Firebreather
by LJ58
Summary: The fight is over, and Duncan has stopped the kaiju from destroying his school. Only now he has consequences to face after his secrets have come out for the whole world to see.
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own Andy Kuhn & Phil Hester's Firebreather characters, and am only using them to tell a story meant for entertainment purposes only._

 **Firebreather**

 **By LJ58**

 **1**

Not far from their newest home, Duncan Rosenblatt stood atop a low hill overlooking the wide, mostly empty desert beyond the small suburb at the edge of the small city.

Mostly empty, because somewhere out there was his father. Just one of several recent captives held at a local MEGTAF base. Then, too, there was his dad's lair. The underground entrance to the Kaiju's true home. A place he had been, but couldn't quite recall.

Aside from the overwhelming fear and pain he had experienced at the time, he certainly had no wish to create more problems by leading MEGTAF right to 'his' people's own home. Of late, that was how he was thinking, too. He wasn't just half Kaiju, he was all monster in the eyes of his peers now. Well, a lot more than that. Sometimes, he felt that way himself with the scaly, orange skin that marked him even when he wasn't fully transformed.

 _Thanks, dad_ , he mused darkly as he stared out into the darkness before him currently lit only by stars, and an occasional aircraft.

"Duncan?"

He tensed slightly, but didn't turn.

It wasn't a Kaiju.

While some were bright enough to speak, none of them would warn you of an attack. They certainly didn't use his human name.

Not that he was completely human.

Once again; thanks, dad.

"Hey, are you okay? Your mom said you were out here."

He still didn't turn. Didn't say a word.

"Do you….want to be alone," the girl finally asked, sounding confused. And a bit distressed.

He drew a deep breath, and simply shrugged for a moment.

"I….don't know what I want," he finally said quietly. "Not anymore."

"I thought….you wanted me," the young blonde beauty from the local high school daringly asked.

Weird, he decided.

She was weird.

On so many levels it was hard to isolate.

Weird, because she had been….fond of him. At the start, at least. Then she found out the truth. The hard way. Kenny, an apparent friend, blurted out his monstrous parentage in the middle of a crowded gym at a dance. That had been bad enough. The look in her eyes then had been all he needed to know what she had really thought of him.

Then several disgruntled wannabes showed up to crash the party, and he had to go full Kaiju to lure them away, and stop them.

Even then, to his surprise, she had followed with his mom, and…..

Well, he wasn't sure what she was trying. Or thinking. She had almost gotten herself killed, though. Stupid girl.

She had been….conciliatory there at the end. Just four days ago. Just for a moment, the smallest of moments, he had almost dared hope in happy endings.

That, of course, was before school.

And the parents, and the protests, and the grief that poured down right on his head.

It didn't help that the gym was destroyed, lots of people were hurt, and at least two teachers were dead. One for certain, and one missing, yet to be found.

Cue the media morons, and now he was hiding out at home, or more often out in the desert, and wondering if he even had a place left in the human world. Or a reason to even worry about it. Maybe he should just leave. Maybe Belloc had the right idea. Leave them all, and forget them. Let them….

"I'm sorry about my mom," Jenna Shwartzendruber told him, cutting into his thoughts as a small hand came down on his left shoulder. Strangely comforting, but all the smaller when one considered she was one of the very, very few that still tried to stand up to defend him.

Not in public, of course. Only his mom did that. And, of course, the unlikely Kenny, and Isabel, but that was likely because they were both weird from the start.

MEGTAF, of course, couldn't take a public stance.

Secret operatives, secret deals, and all that.

Blitz was a jerk like that when he wanted to be. He was still hanging around _just in case_ he went the way of his forebears.

And after he had saved the jerk's life. At least twice. Well, maybe even three times.

Jerk. Of course, he always was. Like Duncan didn't know the real reason he hung around. The guy had a thing for his mom. His mom, however, would like to bury him at times. This was one of them.

"Will you turn around," Jenna asked when he didn't say anything.

He drew another deep breath.

Slowly turning, he looked down into her anguished face, and she gave him a wan smile in turn.

"You're not leaving, are you? Your mom was afraid that last round of protests might have been too much for you. Especially with all those reporters trying to find you."

"Those idiots," he huffed. "You seriously think a few hair-sprayed mannequins worry me after what I've already faced down?"

She gave a helpless snort of laughter.

"Mannequins?"

"Hair-sprayed mannequins," he qualified with a faint smirk now. "Get it right."

"I'm…..glad you can still joke. They are kind of silly, aren't they? I mean, they weren't even there that night, and yet they all act…."

"I'm pretty sure it's a grown-up thing. I mean, you've met Blitz."

"Yeah. It was kind of weird him playing our _coach_ all this time when….."

"All that's happened this year, and you think Blitz Barnes being a coach is the weirdest part of it," he asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah," she said with an impish grin. One that made her face look a bit like a pixie.

He couldn't help but smile back.

"It is kind of weird." Duncan smiled a little more now. "You should have been in my last school. He was a vice principal, then."

"You're kidding? How can he do that?"

"He's MEGTAF. A big shot colonel, too. I guess that lets him pretty much do whatever he wants."

"Isabel said….they might try to cage you. Like your dad."

"Let's face facts," he told her wearily. "My dad is still in that box because he _let_ them put him there. The minute he's tired of that one, he's gone. Let's face it, he's still king of the monsters for a reason."

"Oh. Right."

Duncan looked away.

"Duncan, I really am sorry about….how things turned out."

"Yeah. Me, too," he admitted. "I was actually trying to fit in this year. Guess we know how well that worked," he grimaced, still recalling some of the signs from the parents' protests.

 _Kids Not Kaiju!_

 _No Biological Weapons In Our Schools!_

Or just _, Monsters Must Die!_

He especially liked that one.

Then his spineless, politically correct principal decided he had to go home until the school board ruled on his 'humanity.' They were still arguing over him last he had heard.

"Guess saving their dumb little brats didn't count for anything," he muttered. "Maybe I should have just let Abaddon and Astaroth eat them."

"You wouldn't have done that," Jenna gasped.

"No. No, I wouldn't. I just…. Honestly? I don't feel like I belong anywhere," he told her. "Humans don't want me. Most of the Kaiju hate the fact dad wants me as his heir, and their next king."

"You," Jenna blurted.

"Well, you know, son of the king, and all that," he grumbled.

"Oh. Oh. I knew Belloc was your dad. You know….now. But I never realized…. So, you're like a prince," she grinned.

"Right," Duncan drawled sardonically. "Only I don't think I'll ever be anyone's _Prince_ _Charming_."

"But, don't you see? That could work for you. If they shun you, they're shunning the _prince_ , and next king of the Kaiju that could finally make a lasting peace between us. Maybe you could…maybe use...?"

The car horn sounded shrilly, and impatiently as the small sedan pulled over on the side of the road near the hill where they stood.

Jenna didn't even look back as she put a hand over her face.

"Oh, no," she moaned.

"Yeah. It's your mom," he said, eyeing the twisted, furious, and yet genuinely frightened features of the woman glaring his way. Even angry, that face showed where Jenna had gotten her beauty.

"I swear, I think she's low-jacked me lately," Jenna moaned, and looked back to wave.

The horn sounded again.

"Jenna," the woman all but screeched after finally lowering her window. "Get away from that thing right now. You don't know what it might do!"

"So, now I'm an _it_ ," Duncan sighed, and just shook his head.

"Duncan," Jenna said mournfully. "I'm sorry. Mom's got it in her head that….."

She suddenly grabbed him, winding her arms around him, and pressed her very sweet lips that tasted of cherry to his.

She smiled at his stunned expression under the half moon, and heard her mother's stillborn shriek not far off.

"Let her rant over that one. Don't give up, _Prince_ Duncan. You do still have friends here."

Duncan had to smile as the blonde turned and loped down the sandy hill toward the waiting car as the woman began ranting even before her daughter got into the car. The woman drove off so fast you would have thought a legion of kaiju were right behind her.

"Wow. Paranoia is alive and well," he muttered as he watched the taillights disappear. Then he smirked, and echoed, "Prince."

 **~FB~**

"Duncan?"

"Hey, mom," he said wearily, trudging in after a directionless walk around the desert that ended up bringing him back home.

It wasn't like he had anyplace else to go. Even the mall had banned him lately. Someone probably thought he would bring some Kaiju there, or attack someone himself.

Troy's stories didn't help.

He had taken their earlier encounters, and exaggerated them beyond belief. Naturally that only added fuel to the rumors going around about him. He was pretty sure everyone thought he was flying around, looking for babies, or puppies to devour. Maybe both.

Jerks. The world was full of jerks.

"Hey, mom. You didn't have to wait up for me," she was told as she stared at him from the couch.

"Are you….all right?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that," he demanded petulantly as she stood up to study him. "What? Do you think I've got the flu, or something? Jeez!"

"Oh, Duncan," Margaret Rosenblatt sighed, and embarrassed him yet again by hugging him like a child in her surprisingly strong arms.

"Mom," he complained, though he didn't pull away.

He didn't want to hurt her feelings. Even if he felt he was a bit big for such…..mom-like hugs.

"Mrs. Shwartzendruber came by. I had to tell her Jenna was here looking for you."

"Yeah, they both found me. That lady is nuts, though. Do you know that?"

"She's scared, Duncan. But I'm sure if you just keep showing everyone that you're a perfectly normal….."

Duncan cut her off as he sniggered at that one.

"Sorry. Sorry, but…. C'mon, mom. Perfectly _normal_? Even you can't buy that one."

Margaret sighed, and patted his shoulder.

"So, what did you decide," she finally asked him, as if knowing what had been on his mind of late.

"I don't know. Nothing, really. I just…. I kind of want to live a regular life. Only I can't, can I?"

"Honey, you can do anything you want, if you just try."

"Except go to school," he countered.

Margaret sighed.

"I'm still petitioning the school board over that one."

"I didn't think they had made a decision yet."

She looked away guiltily.

"What did they say?"

"Duncan, they…. They won't let you back in. After two Kaiju attacks, and your own….temper, they're afraid you represent too great a risk to the student body."

"You mean the one I _saved_ ," he muttered sourly. "Technically, twice?"

"Duncan….

"I get it. I get it. You know, Jenna had this idea about me being some kind of prince," he told her, walking over, and dropping onto the couch. "You know, with dad being…..dad. She figured we could sell that to the jerks. You know, don't offend the next _king_ , and all that."

"What do you think," Margaret asked.

"C'mon, mom," he sighed, and let his eyes drop. " _Blitz_ is already paranoid enough. Let him hear that one, and he'd be leading the charge to lock me up again, or worse. Again."

"They won't do that."

"No, because those first seven years in their labs were just a figment of my imagination, right?"

Margaret had nothing to say to that.

"Anyway, with all respect to Dr. Pytel, they even try that one again, and I will leave," he grumbled.

"Leave," Margaret asked, sounding uneasy.

"Well, the lab, anyway. Like I said, I'm done with that one."

"Where….? Where would you go, son?"

"Not what you think," he muttered, eyes still closed. "I mean, c'mon. Half those Kaiju still aren't thrilled with the half-human as their next king. I don't think even Belloc sold that one too well."

"So…?"

"Mom. I don't know. For now….I guess I'll stay here, and veg out. After all, I can't even go into town without the cops following me around now. Especially since most of the businesses have pretty much banned me from entering. Even the mall, _and_ the theater," he muttered darkly.

"Kind of takes the thrill out of being out of school," she tried to tease.

Duncan shoved to his feet, and walked toward the back.

"I'm going to bed, mom," he told her, and didn't look back.

Margaret only stared after him, feeling truly terrible for her son. She had hoped his burdens would lighten once the secret he carried was out, and shared with his friends. Or even those that weren't. Still, it seemed things had only gotten worse.

Even she was genuinely surprised when Duncan was still there in the morning when she woke.

It didn't surprise her when he once more 'took a walk' out into the desert. Still, every time he left, she was genuinely afraid he might never come back.

 **FB**

"We're losing him, General Taylor," she told her former superior officer from back when she had been in MEGTAF herself. "He's pulling away more every day, and those idiots in town aren't helping."

"We could arrange another move," Randall Taylor suggested.

Margaret eyed the burly, balding man ruefully.

"After all the media that has been on this story? Where could you send us? Siberia? Because I'm pretty sure most of the known world knows all about Duncan by now," she had to admit.

"So, you think staying here is best?"

"He mentioned something his girlfriend said last night," she told him. "Maybe…. Maybe we could, well….use it to our benefit."

"What's that?"

"Something that will probably _scare_ Barnes, but was always intended to bridge our worlds," she reminded him.

"You mean….?"

"Technically, he is Belloc's heir, sir. A prince among the Kaiju, and their next _king._ Defeating two of the most powerful Kaiju that defied Belloc only helped strengthen his position among them, by the way," she added, knowing her son had yet to realize that fact as yet.

"And you know this because…?"

"Belloc and I are talking again. A little," she admitted with a sigh.

The officer sighed, and steepled his fingers before him on the desk between them.

"Yes, Colonel Barnes did mention a concern you were getting too….close to the creature. Again."

"Belloc is a _good_ person, General Taylor. He has risked a lot to try to create this bridge between our races, and bring a real peace to both sides. If Barnes were less of a war-hawk, and more of a….."

"I thought my ears were burning," a smug tone drawled as the silver-haired officer walked into the room in full uniform.

"Shouldn't you be pretending to coach those Neanderthals of yours," Margaret scowled at him over one shoulder.

"With the kid out of the system, I have no reason to maintain my cover," he shot back. "That said, I need a moment of your time, sir. In private," he said, eyeing Margaret. "Although, perhaps we could meet later? Say, for lunch….?"

"In your dreams," she huffed. "I swear, I sometimes think you engineer these problems just to advance your own agenda," she accused him as she turned, and stalked out.

"Margaret," Blitz started to call out.

"General. One last thing. My son will not be going back into any lab, lockdown, or custody, for any reason. While I don't want it, either, that is _his_ decision. At this point, I don't think you want to be trying to push the issue. Thank you for your time, General Taylor," she quipped, and slammed the door behind her.

"Temperamental woman," Blitz smirked.

"She has a point."

"She does," the junior officer asked. "About what?"

"You, and her son. You're letting your own hatred blind you, Barnes. Or do you really think we're _holding_ Belloc?"

"We've held him so far."

"And how long did you hold him the last time?"

Barnes flushed, looking less than pleased.

"Belloc is probably the most powerful Kaiju we've ever seen, Barnes. Maybe, the most powerful creature on the planet. For whatever his reason, he chose to spawn a half-human son, and make him his heir. Everything else aside, it could be that _we_ are being tested as much as his own kind."

"About that," Blitz scowled, waving dismissively. "I don't think it's a very good idea to keep letting that woman visit that monster."

Randal eyed the colonel, and lowered his hands. One drumming fingers slightly before he looked up again.

"I suspect you'd also like to lock up the boy?"

"It would be prudent, sir. Let's face it, in just a few months, he has grown beyond all expectations. Even Dr. Pytel can't chart what might happen next. His power and abilities are already escalating beyond all known expectations. And he has a volatile temper that….."

"Frankly, I don't blame him."

"What?"

"How would you react if your….peers of any sort, abused you, harassed you, or simply chose to beat on you on a daily basis?"

"That's different!"

"Oh?"

"He's a _monster_ ….!"

"Funny. I've met Margaret's son. Pretty typical teenage boy from what I saw. Obsessed with his image, girls, and his own place in life. Yes, pretty typical," the aging officer nodded.

"You didn't see what he turned into out there. General, there is no way you can possibly believe that he won't become a credible threat in time."

"So, just in case, we throw him in a cage next to his father, and lose the key?"

" _Yes_!"

"What about Margaret? She birthed him. Maybe we should lock her up, too. Reassess her humanity, too, since she obviously favors…..monsters."

"What? No, she's…."

"You're letting your own hate blind you, Barnes. Just as she said. Leave the boy alone. And get him _back_ into school. I don't care how. Do it. And do not interfere with Major Rosenblatt's visitations."

"She's not even a major any longer," he complained. "She retired after….."

"As far as I'm concerned, she's still one of ours. And entitled to all the respect she's earned over the past few decades. Or do you think it's just a coincidence that a lot of major Kaiju attacks have dropped off since her unlikely…..union?"

"Then you weren't paying attention!"

"Barnes!"

"Sorry, sir. But you didn't see the chaos that kid caused….."

"The kid? Or your reaction to it. I read between the lines pretty well, too, Colonel Barnes. Or should I say, _Coach_ Barnes?"

Blitz groaned.

"Again?"

"We do still need a liaison when you get him back into school," Randal smiled thinly at his man.

"That is not going to be easy," Blitz Barnes groaned.

"Our jobs never are. Which is why we hire the best. So, Colonel Barnes, are you _still_ one of us?"

"Yes, sir," he saluted sharply.

"Then get your butt back in gear, and follow your orders," he was told.

"Sir," he barked, and turned to leave. "But you're still making a mistake," he muttered only after he left the office, and had shut the door behind him.

"I _heard_ that," the commanding officer bellowed from the other side of the thick panel.

"How does he do that," Barnes complained, and stalked off without commenting on the smirking secretary that grinned at him.

 _To Be Continued….._


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own Andy Kuhn & Phil Hester's Firebreather characters, and am only using them to tell a story meant for entertainment purposes only._

 **Fire-Breather**

 **By LJ58**

 **2**

"You're back," Isabel exclaimed happily as she spotted him walking up the sidewalk toward school that morning just before the first bell.

"I guess," Duncan said, glancing around. "Guess the word hasn't got out yet, or the usual parental brigade would have already been here," he said as they approached the local high school.

"Yeah, I'm sorry my folks got so crazed there, too," the pretty Latino sighed. "I figured they would have been more understanding after I told them how you saved us, and all."

"You can't control fear, Isabel," Duncan told her sagely. " _Or_ stupidity."

"Ouch," another familiar voice grimaced from behind them. "Was that one for me?"

They both turned to see the short, lanky Kenny Rogers coming up behind them holding a notebook as he studied them in turn.

"Hey, Kenny," Duncan grinned. "Nah, I was talking about parents. You know, the bane of all teenagers everywhere?"

"Tell me about it," Isabel sighed.

"Well, the good news is, my dad isn't back yet, so _he_ can't say anything," the dark-haired boy shrugged.

"There, you see," Isabel grinned at Duncan, taking them both by one arm to drag them toward the front doors. "Now you can say that not all of the parents are against you."

"Is she always like this," Duncan looked over to ask Kenny.

"Pretty much," he sighed. "But I like her."

"And I like you," Isabel grinned, and actually surprised Duncan by kissing the boy's cheek.

"Here, here, here," Principal Dave himself spoke up as he appeared at the doors as if by magic. "None of that, boys and girls. School is no place for public displays of affection."

"What can I say," Isabel grinned impenitently. "I'm still trying to thank my very best friend for saving my gorgeous hide," she beamed, posturing.

Duncan chortled at that.

"And, you, Mr. Rosenblatt," the sober administrator addressed him as it seemed every teen in the area suddenly still to listen. "I believe you remember your old schedule, which you'll keep. But let's just leave your preternatural _antics_ off-campus this time. Shall we?"

"Anything you say, sir," he grinned.

"Then get to class before you're late. All of you. Move along," the tall, lean principal ordered in his ever bland tone.

Duncan had to smile as he heard more than a few different voices exclaiming various levels of shock and disbelief as he entered the hall.

"Can't believe he's back!"

"Man, he looks weirder than I remember!"

"Does he really breathe fire," someone he didn't recognize asked.

Then came the inevitable as he approached his locker.

Or old locker.

"You," Troy Adams all but glowered as Duncan opened his locker to find it empty.

Figures.

"Yep, it's me," he turned from his locker to declare as Isabel sniggered from behind him. Kenny having gone on to his first class, not sharing the class they had.

Troy continued to glower.

"I don't know how you got back in, freak, but I can tell you now, I'm keeping an eye on you," Troy told him grimly.

"Gee, Troy," Duncan blurted out as the jock slammed the empty locker shut with his fist. "I didn't know you cared. I always thought you liked _girls_ ," he quipped.

Troy's face turned brick red as several other student burst into laughter.

"This isn't over, you…..you freak!"

"Remind me again, _why_ did I want to come back here," he asked Isabel as his nemesis stomped away.

The brunette pointed behind him.

"Oh. Right," he murmured, seeing Jenna standing with her back to him, talking to three other girls who were gaping his way now.

The blonde slowly turned to see what drew their gazes, and saw him standing there with Isabel, and her blue eyes rounded.

"Duncan," she cried, and almost dropped her purse in her rush to join him, and throw her arms around him. "You're really back," she cheered.

"Better not let Principal D see that. He already slammed me just for pecking Ken's cheek," she chortled. "He sees that display, and he might suspend you."

Jenna blushed as she stepped back, ignoring her ex-boyfriend Troy who had stopped to glare back their way when one of the boys with him pointed out her greeting.

"I didn't even know you were coming back," Jenny exclaimed. "You never said a thing. I was so afraid….."

"Afraid? You," Duncan grinned, missing the feel of her arms around him as she stepped back. "The same girl that tried to take on Abbadon _and_ Astaroth?"

"Say what," Isabel exclaimed, her dark eyes wider than ever. "We never heard that one," she fairly glowered at Jenna.

"She didn't tell you," Duncan grinned.

"Duncan," Jenna groaned. "I didn't really do anything…."

"You helped distract them, and that helped give me and dad time put them down," he grinned.

"You really fought Kaiju? You _saw_ Belloc? You have so got to tell me everything," Isabel all but drooled over the blonde now.

"And that is why I didn't say anything," Jenna told Duncan, who was grinning as the three of them headed for the first class of the day.

The first few classes went well.

Then he was in gym.

"Kid," Blitz growled at him as he walked out to take his place in line where they were now through with the dodge ball nightmare, and now had basketballs on the court.

"Blitz. Still here, huh," he drawled indifferently.

"Someone has to keep an eye on you," he shot back coldly.

"And they picked you again. Kind of screws up your chances for promotion, doesn't it," he asked.

"What?"

"Well, from colonel to coach, to babysitter. I'll bet that looks _great_ on your résumé," Duncan teased him.

"Just get in line, and try to control yourself for once. Today we're doing free-throws, and getting ready for tryouts."

"Great," Duncan rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry. I doubt anyone wants _you_ on the team."

"Who said I wanted to join," he shot back indignantly.

"Good."

"Good," Duncan shot back.

"All right, everyone line up. We're going to see how well you pansies can handle a basketball today," Barnes barked at the class as the bell rang just then.

Troy Adams was first in line. He sank three of five tries, and crowed as if he had done better. From there, things went pretty much as expected.

 **~FB~**

He was halfway home the next day when the trouble came.

He was headed across the desert, taking a short cut to his house rather than risk traveling the usual streets since he had no doubt Troy and the others like him would be waiting, when he heard a loud humming sound.

He frowned, looking around, but saw nothing.

At first.

Then something darted past him on his right, and he spun around, and tensed even as he saw two more shadows high overhead now dropping out of the sky as a fourth, then a fifth shape landed just to his left. The last, he saw, had been carrying the fifth of the now five kaiju that landed, and eyed him grimly before the taller, almost angular fifth stepped forward, and walked right up to him.

He tensed, but didn't move, hoping this wasn't going to be one of those impromptu challenges he had come to expect of late every time a kaiju showed up.

"Uh, hello," he asked blandly as the tall kaiju just stared down at him with cold, reddish eyes.

"I am Daora, daughter of Mephistoles, lord of the Eastern Kaiju," the reptilian biped said with a low, hissing voice.

"Okay," Duncan frowned, eyeing the four, larger bee-like kaiju standing around them, alien eyes fixed on him. He had the very unnerving feeling that if he made one wrong move, those four kaiju would be attacking him before he could blink.

"Your sire, the grand lord Belloc has not already told you of me," the slightly feminine reptile sniffed, looking down at him from her greater height as she was very near seven feet tall.

"Uh, I haven't actually seen him lately. Not since, you know, we beat down Abaddon, and his Astaroth," he admitted. "The, ah, humans, don't want me visiting, since they still don't trust either of us."

Daora sniffed again.

"As if the humans mean anything when compared to the will of the prince of kaiju," she declared.

"Well, this prince is trying to get along, and show everyone he's not trying to start trouble. Get it," he shot back, starting to get a bad feeling about this one.

"Very well," Daora huffed. "Then allow me to properly introduce myself since you your father has yet to manage it."

"Right. Sure," he said with a nod.

"I am Daora Lillita Astomi Efreet Hilala, your betrothed, my prince," she actually gave a faint nodding bow to him.

Duncan's jaw dropped.

"My what," he sputtered.

"You are of age. You have shown yourself brave, and capable. Father has decided we shall wed this very season. I assumed your father had already told you…."

"My father is very good at keeping secrets to suit himself," Duncan growled now. "Look, you seem like a nice….lady. Only I'm still in high school…."

"What is….high school," Daora asked.

"Oh, boy," Duncan groaned. "I…. Look, let me take you home to mom, and she can probblay help explain things a little better. I hope," he added as he eyed the four bee-like kaiju that were looking as cold, and unflappable as ever. "Uh, you guys should probably go, too. I can take care of….Daora," he told them.

To his surprise, they didn't argue. They just all four bowed as one, and then flew off without looking back.

"C'mon, I'll take you home, and we'll see my mother," he said. "Hopefully, she will know what to do."

"What to do? We are to wed, my prince," the kaiju told him. "What more need be explained?"

"Uh, yeah," he grimaced. "Just….follow me. And try not to look….too dangerious."

The kaiju looked down at him as if he were an idiot.

 **~FB~**

"I did what," he asked, genuinely horrified as he stared at his mother after he came in, and holed up in his room.

Margaret Rosenblatt only nodded at him.

"By taking responsibility for her, son, you as much as agreed to go forward with the betrothal. Now, I imagine, her father, and all the kaiju, will be expecting a formal union soon."

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he banged his fists into his own head. "Gah! Why didn't dad tell me…. _any_ of this," he demanded.

"Oh, I don't know," his mother smiled wryly now. "Maybe because you decided not to visit, and wouldn't listen to him when he was around?"

Duncan only grumbled.

"I knew he wanted me to be his heir," he muttered. "I sure didn't realize he had a…..a bride already waiting on me, too!"

"She seems very nice," Margaret told her son.

"Mom!"

"Face it, son. You are now the formally recognized heir to Belloc. You must have known there was going to be more to it than just a title."

"Actually," he muttered, but fell silent as someone knocked at his door.

He fell silent, not about to admit he was still looking for a way out of this dilemma, but was finding it hard to even consider it possible just then because of the way he looked. That, and half the world had pretty much seen him thanks to all the media around him of late.

"Come in," Margarret called before he could say a word.

"I heard shouting," Daora said, her voice softer, and almost husky.

Which was completely understandable, since she had apparently somehow changed her entire appearance.

"Daora," he gaped, staring at the now willowy, pale blonde that eyed him with slightly crimson eyes as she stood there barely topping five feet.

The female cringed, looking as if she were blushing, and looked down and away.

"I understand. I must look hideous to you now. But I cannot stay in my kaiju form as long as I would like. Should I leave until I can change back to a proper form again?"

"No," Duncan rasped. "I'm actually….jealous," he told her. "How do you change like that? You look…."

"Human," she said quietly, some of her arrogance lost just then. "I am a second-generation hybrid. Unlike you, my grandmother, and my mother were human, and it…..thinned my blood. Still, even father was astonished when Lord Belloc accepted me as your betrothed. I…..I hope I do not….offend you in this form."

"Hey, no," Duncan assured her as he just kept staring. "Honest, I think you look….very nice."

"In _both_ forms," Margaret told her, and pointedly nudged her son.

"Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Both forms. Ah, this is as human as I get," he smiled uneasily as he held out his arms for a moment, indicated his orange scales that now covered him completely, and more than visibly. "So, yeah, I'm kind of jealous of you."

"Of me," she now frowned in confusion. "But….? This form does not repulse you?"

Duncan sighed, and glanced at his mom.

"Could this whole thing get any weirder?"

"We obviously need to go see your father," she told him as Margaret now stepped around the two teens. "After school, Friday, I think. For now, you need to know your fiancé a little better."

"Mom! Jeez, and what about…Jenna," he groaned. "Or school?"

"Face it, Duncan. If you are going to be your father's heir-apparent, then you are going to have to face a few things coming along with it. Some you might not like, but….I think some you might enjoy," she smirked at him. "Now, I'll just go make supper. Just try to keep things G-rated for now," she advised him with a mischievous grin at her son.

"Mom," he groaned.

"She is nice," Daora told him as his mother walked down the hall toward the kitchen. "Certainly more hospitable than I expected."

"Uh, thanks. Yeah. Mom is usually pretty great. Unless she's trying to run my life, or tossing me off in the deep end again," he complained.

"Deep end," the blonde Daora frowned.

"It's an expression," he sighed, and gestured to his desk chair. She walked over to it, and just stood there.

"So, who is this…Jenna? And what is this school you keep mentioning?"

"Uh, well, Jenna is a friend. Kind of a nice girl, and….."

"Ah, a consort. Is she a hybrid, too?"

"Jenna," he sputtered. No. No. She's….."

"I just thought, you might have more experience with hybrids than I realized, and that is why you are more…..accepting of this form than most," she sighed, still looking nervous in her now human form.

"Well, Jenna is….human. All human. You see, mom kind of kept me out of the kaiju world growing up. She raised me as a human. So, I'm….kind of used to humans."

"I have rarely been among humans. So do these local humans respect you," she smiled.

He sighed now.

Daora, he guessed, didn't watch news, or read papers.

"Actually, some do. Or a few, at any rate. But some….they kind of think I'm a freak. A….monster."

"I see. You do not punish them for their disrespect?"

He looked at the blonde standing there beside his chair, yet to sit down, and sighed.

"It's….complicated. Remember that trouble I mentioned?"

"Yes. I have a very good memory, Prince Duncan."

"Right. Okay. So, MEGTAF is close, and watching me as much as they watch my dad. They are some of those still suspicious of us, and so I have to….stay out of trouble so they don't start fighting with us again. I stay calm, and live like a human, and they don't try to kill us. Get it?"

Daora frowned.

"You….fear the humans?"

Duncan snorted, and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, right. I just don't want any trouble. They're more annoying than not. Especially _Troy_."

"Troy is a human in MEGTAF?"

"No. No. He's…. You know what, he's nothing. Not even worth talking about," Duncan declared.

"Ah, he's a peasant," she nodded. "Understood. Now, tell me of this school. And why is your consort not here with you?"

"My….consort?"

"This Jenna you named? Surely the consort of a prince lives with her liege?"

"That's, ah, not the way we do things here in the human world," he groaned. "Besides, like I said, we're both still in school."

"School. You keep mentioning this as if something of great import. Tell me of this school."

"Well," Duncan grimaced as she finally sat down, and sat carefully on the edge of the seat, eyeing him as if testing him. It only then occurred to him that she had expected him to protest her sitting on his chair. "Ah, for all young humans, school is where you go to learn. It is a requirement, and everyone has to go. There are…things you have to learn to fit into the human world, and teach you about….well, history, language, sciences, and….stuff like that," he tried to explain.

"I see. My father simply brought tutors to I and my siblings. They instructed us well, or father dismembered them," she pointed out.

"Oh, well, here the teachers…. Instructors…. They tell you what to do, and test you on how well you learn. If you learn well, you graduate, and become an adult in the human world. Or, at least, that seems to be the way it works so far."

"It seems….intriguing. I shall go with school with you, my prince," Daora nodded. "I shall learn of the human world with you."

Duncan felt his jaw drop again.

 **~FB~**

"The half-breed prince has now fully revealed himself," the shadowed speaker growled in a low, ominous voice.

"This is known," one of four others in the stygian cavern spat. "He has already defeated two of our best."

"Best," the first speaker sneered. "If they are our best, how were they beaten?"

"Belloc himself fought at his side," another spoke up. "It is known. The king himself openly championed his half-human heir."

There was a long moment of silent, and then the first spoke again.

"Then the worth of this prince can still be presented as dubious before all the kaiju. Had he defeated our agents alone, he might have garnered even more of a following. Still, so long as there is doubt….we can yet undermine this folly," the speaker growled.

"How," another asked. "Already, Mephistoles himself has moved to wed his half-human bastard to him, and attach himself to the throne. You know that canny opportunist wouldn't be acting were he not assured of some gain in such a move."

"First, we plant doubt," the first declared. "Then, we demonstrate that the upstart prince is a craven, and a weakling. No better than a true human ape."

"And then," one of the four asked.

"And then, we crush him completely, and remind the humans that the kaiju are the true masters of this world," the other snarled viciously.

 _To Be Continued….._


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own Andy Kuhn & Phil Hester's Firebreather characters, and am only using them to tell a story meant for entertainment purposes only._

 **Fire-Breather**

 **By LJ58**

 **3**

"Uh, Duncan?"

"Yeah," he asked uneasily as Jenna walked up behind him, joining him as he walked to school.

"Who's your shy friend?"

Daora looked at her, her eyes currently hidden behind dark sunglasses, and looking more than bashful.

Duncan knew better.

Once he finally assured Daora that he didn't find her repulsive, she had been constantly asking him questions, and even demanding to know how certain things worked. She was genuinely astonished at television, and yet managed to use the computer as if she were a master-hacker.

Apparently, her time among the kaiju had been a lot different from his few exposures to his father's kind, because she also demonstrated a rather startling gift that he was rather envious of when he realized what she could do.

He had first thought that his mother had given her clothes.

She hadn't.

And she could shift from human, to kaiju, and back, without losing her clothes that just seemed to vanish, or reappear as necessary.

Duncan found out that her grandfather had taught her some of the 'old magic,' as she put it, and she just used what she called a simple spell to maintain her modesty when shifting.

She had promised to teach him such spells, but was genuinely surprised that he had not already known of the magics all kaiju apparently touched, though only some few truly mastered.

He was definitely going to have to ask his father about that one.

In fact, lately that list of questions he had for his unlikely sire was fast growing as he considered he still had three days before his mom's planned visit to MEGTAF to visit Belloc.

Yeah, he could see Blitz loving that one.

That paranoid loon was still waiting for him to go postal, and try taking over….something.

"Uh, Jenna, this is….."

"Jenna? This is your human consort," the blonde asked, turning to look full at the shapelier blonde who sputtered at that description.

"His what," Jenna exclaimed as she gaped at the blonde craning her head to look around Duncan, who was pointedly not looking at either of them.

"Jenna, I can explain. This is Daora…."

"Daora Lillita Atomi Efreet Hilala, daughter of Mephistoles, lord of the Eastern kaiju," she smiled smugly now as she eyed Jenna.

"Uh, yeah…."

"And Prince Duncan's betrothed," she added.

Jenna stopped in her tracks, gaping as Duncan managed two more steps before he realized she had stopped.

"I really can explain. Really. I think," Duncan grimaced.

"Explain? She's your fiancé," Jenna almost shrieked. "When were you going to tell me?"

"Actually," Duncan groaned, "I just found out myself yesterday. After school," he added.

"And you couldn't call me…..? Wait. Wait," the human blonde frowned. "If she's kaiju, why does she look…?"

"I can appear as human due to the fact I am a second-generation hybrid," Daora told her. "Father actually said he almost killed me when I was born because I looked so human. Fortunately, I soon took on a proper kaiju form, and grandfather learned I had a talent for old magic. It gave me value," she smiled, "And now I have the honor of being wed to our king's prince-heir."

Duncan groaned.

"Look, Daora, Jenna is a friend," she said. "She….understands us. Right," he all but begged her as Jenna just stood there staring between them.

"Right," the blonde said with a low murmur as she eyed the pair.

"Anyway, let's keep the true confessions to ourselves, because not everyone at school is going to be friendly, or understanding," he told Daora. "Remember? I told you this."

"Ah. I do understand, my prince," Daora smiled. "You do not wish to appear too superior lest you rouse the envy of the insignificant around you."

"Yeah, that. Absolutely that," Duncan groaned as Jenna stared at him again.

"So, _consort_ ," she demanded.

"Daora may be able to look human," he told her as they started walking again, "But she has never been _among_ humans. At all. She is still learning how to fit in."

"You have a most astonishing world, to be honest," Daora told her. "Do you have the TeeVee box at your lair, too? It is most entertaining," she smiled at Jenna.

"I see what you mean," Jenna murmured. "Oh, God help her if she runs into Isabel," Jenna suddenly thought.

"Izzy? Oh, man, I didn't even think of her."

"This Izzy is one not a friend," Daora asked with a frown.

"She's a friend. Definitely a friend," he nodded at her now. "She is….very fond of kaiju, too," Duncan told her. "But her boyfriend isn't."

"Who is this….boy-friend, and why should his opinions even matter to you, my prince," she huffed.

"Daora, we went over this. Just call me Duncan around other humans. Okay?"

"That would not be proper, my prince," she smiled.

Duncan groaned as they heard a small convertible roar by, and the loud, raucous laughter of some known, and less than likeable voices.

"So, you're just going to let her….walk into school," Jenna asked cautiously. "What about Principal Dave?"

"Actually, mom already pulled some strings. Something she's apparently pretty good at, I guess. She's officially registered as a transfer, and…."

"This is school," Daora asked as they paused to wait on the light to change directly across from the school. "It seems….less than impressive," she declared as she looked at the building just across the street.

"Yep, that's high school," Jenna smirked.

"It does not look all that remarkable," the young kaiju sniffed. "I expected more."

"Wait till you see the inside," Jenna told her.

Duncan only groaned as they crossed the street, and headed for the front door.

"Yeah, you're going to have fun," Jenna told him as Daora walked forward, her eyes taking in everything once inside.

Duncan only groaned anew as he led her to the office, and found the principal already standing in the door to his office, glaring at him.

"I understand you are bringing more of your….friends into our fold," the lanky man drawled as he eyed Duncan. "Well, where are they?"

He looked back, and groaned.

"One sec," he said, and ducked back out in the hall, and found Daora staring at the trophy case. "Daora, office. Remember? We have to go to the office first."

"These are…honors," she asked, turning from the trophies. "Do you not have any, my prince," she asked.

Duncan grimaced, and thought fast.

"Oh, uh, no. I only just started here myself, and haven't been here that long. Now, let's meet the principal, the guy in charge, and he'll let us know your schedule. Okay?"

"As you wish, my prince," and stepped into the office.

"No sunglasses in the school, young lady," the man told her bluntly as he eyed her when she arrived.

Daora said nothing, but simply pulled them off, exposing her very crimson orbs.

"She's….like you," Principal Dave frowned as he eyed the very human looking girl that was looking around with a disdainful gaze.

"Of course not," Daora remarked curtly. "I am but a humble kaiju honored above her station by her betrothal to our worthy prince, and future king," she declared.

"Right," the man declared blandly as he eyed the strange girl.

"Mom said you guys would have her schedule, and everything ready," Duncan cut in, really wishing Daora would let the whole betrothal to the prince deal die out. Only it seemed to be her every other word. Or so it seemed to him just then.

"The, ah, authorities said you would be taking responsibility for her, Duncan. So let's ensure she fits in a little better than you did. Shall we," the principal asked dryly as he produced, and handed over a folder with Daora's schedule, locker assignments, and other related materials.

"Anything's possible," Duncan sighed, and led Daora back out of the office before she could say anything else guaranteed to get him in trouble.

Naturally, he ran right into Troy Adams.

"Hellooooo, babe," the stereotypical jock grinned at Daora as he eyed her up and down. "Who are you, and why are you hanging out with the orange freak?"

"You dare," Daora rasped, and lifted both hands, crushing her file in one as her eyes all but blazed.

"Calm down," Duncan cut in quickly. "Troy is just one of those….special people I told you about," he told Daora. "Remember what I said."

"Ah. Yes, the envious commoners below you," she nodded in understanding.

Which made him groan as Troy's glare sharpened.

"What did you call me," he huffed.

"Troy," Principal Dave snapped as he jerked open the door at that moment, proving he was definitely keeping an eye on them. "Class, young man," he said even as the first bell rang. "Unless you'd like to tie your own record for detentions again this year."

Troy glared, but said nothing as he stalked off with his crew.

"Duncan…."

"I know. I know. Keep things down-low," he said, and tugged Daora after him.

"My prince, I truly do not understand some of these humans," she frowned as she trailed after him.

"Join the club," he sighed, and really wished Daora could have shown up back when he wasn't trying to pass high school. "Just try to remember all mom and I have told you, and just….stay quiet, okay. No trouble means no trouble for me," he added.

"I would never bring you trouble, my prince," she assured him.

"That's good to know," he smiled, and walked into homeroom, which less than coincidentally, Daora now shared.

"Is this our new student," the new teacher who had taken over the science class asked as they walked into the room. "Day….Dai…."

"Daora Lillita Astomi Efreet Hilala," she introduced herself with a slight bow as Duncan sighed. Then cringed as she added, "Betrothed to Prince Duncan Xerxes Absalom….."

"Enough," Duncan groaned as everyone in the class, including Jenna, was gaping at them.

"Forgive me, my prince," she sighed. "I forgot you prefer to feign unimportance among the common peoples here."

Someone sniggered, and Duncan just led her to a seat as the teacher only eyed them with a peculiar expression.

Yeah, he thought, this day was going great!

 **~FB~**

"Hold on," Isabel told Daora when she led her into the locker room. "You have to change before you go back out to the gym," she reminded her.

So far, the kaiju girl had been a source of amusement, and bemusement for her as Duncan spent most of the day cringing around her. Still, Isabel found her beyond interesting, and if some of the others were uncertain about her, she felt she was more than friendly for all her understated pride.

"I should change," Daora asked as the coach eyed her when the other girls began to change clothes for the P.E. class. "It does not seem appropriate, but if you feel I should change among these females, then I shall restore myself."

"You'll what," their coach frowned at the new girl.

" _No_ ," Isabel shouted too late as she only then understood what was about to happen, rushing back from her locker even as Daora suddenly shimmered, and stared down at the stricken, pale coach as the girls around them screamed, and bolted from the locker room.

" _Kaiju_ ," someone screamed, and the girls bolted, dressed, or not.

"Is this not sufficient change," the reptilian kaiju asked the coach who had staggered back, tripped, and landed on her backside to just stare up at Daora in horror.

"Coach Anders, she's not going to hurt you," Isabel told her, and held out her hands as if to somehow stop things happening.

Like the half-naked girls now pouring out of the locker room just then.

"She…. She…."

"Trust me, she's friendly. Like….Duncan."

"D-D-Duncan," the coach wailed, staring up at the tall kaiju cocking its huge head to regard her.

"Uh, Daora, maybe you should change back now. Show the coach you're not going to hurt anyone. 'Kay?"

An instant later, the seemingly human girl was standing over the coach, but frowning as she realized the locker room was now empty.

"I do not understand," Daora frowned as the coach slowly regained her feet, still gaping at the slender, red-eyed blonde now frowning at her. "Did you not instruct me to change?"

"C-Clothes," the coach squeaked. "You have to change….cl-clothes….for class," she rasped.

"Oh," the blonde murmured thoughtfully. "I see. Prince Duncan did not inform me of this requirement," she frowned.

"Well, uh, he wouldn't know about girls' classes, now would he," Isabel asked her.

"Of course. You won't tell him of my failure to comprehend this matter, will you," she turned to ask the coach. "I wish to make my prince proud of me. Not cause him trouble."

"P-Prince," the coach echoed, eyeing the seemingly normal blonde.

"Duncan's going to kill me," Isabel groaned as the blonde just asked, "What clothing should I change to properly engage in this class instruction?"

"Like these," Isabel said, holding up her own gym clothes she had yet to put on.

"Easily done," she said, and this time only her clothes changed to become matching copies of Isabel's gym tee and shorts.

The coach just sat on a bench, heavily, and gaped.

"Maybe I should explain now," Isabel asked her.

"Please," the coach groaned.

Which was when the door burst open, and Coach Barnes stood there with a strange weapon in hand, and shouted, "Where's the kaiju?"

Isabel groaned.

 **~FB~**

"And then Coach Barnes burst in, looking ready for war, and I think that was when Coach Anders fainted," Isabel grinned.

Daora looked sheepish as she walked quickly behind Duncan, looking more and more uneasy as Isabel walked with them, Jenna saying nothing as she only eyed the blonde sympathetically.

"I shamed you," she said quietly, sounding mournful.

"No. No. You did fine. Trust me, my first week wasn't all that great either," Duncan looked back at her to admit. "And you don't have to walk behind me. I'm not mad."

"I disappointed you."

"Honestly, I expected….some trouble. Nothing like Blitz going ballistic on the girl's locker room," he smirked, "But, yeah, some trouble. Honestly, except for that, I think you did pretty well. And now you know better. Right," he smiled at her.

"Yes. I know to change clothes rather than forms for the physical activity class."

"On the bright side, I wager the boys all enjoyed the show," Isabel sniggered.

"The….show," Daora frowned. "What show was this," she asked.

"Oh, wow," Jenna murmured. "You still have a lot to learn, Daora," the taller blonde sighed.

"I'll say," Isabel grinned.

"Duncan," Daora finally asked, also finally having stopped calling him prince every other sentence. At least for now.

"Yeah," he asked, nodding at her as she daringly moved to walk just alongside him on the left, Jenna still at his right. Isabel was just ahead, and tended to speed up, or slow down at her own whim.

"I just wondered…. How long does this….schooling last?"

Jenna and Isabel grinned as Duncan sighed.

"We're juniors," he admitted. "We still have three more weeks, and another whole year after the summer break," he told her.

"So long?"

"Trust me, just now I know how you feel," Duncan admitted.

"Surely it's not all bad," Jenna beamed at him, even as a familiar car pulled up just then, and a certain older blonde glared at them.

"Still," Isabel asked her as she spotted Jenna's mother.

"Oh, yeah," Jenna said, and smiled ruefully as she walked around to get into her mother's car who had yet to say a word, though her expression was just shy of murderous as she glared heatedly at Duncan. "See you later, guys. Nice to meet you, Daora. Don't give up."

"Give up," Daora frowned as Jenna's mother drove off so fast she almost left skid marks.

"She means she thinks you did great, even if some of the grownups probably think we're all nuts. Right, Duncan," Isabel grinned at him as she moved to take Jenna's place at his right side.

"Don't you live that way," Duncan pointed out as they neared a certain intersection.

"Yep. But I thought you could both use my moral support this afternoon," she beamed. "And maybe Daora and I can talk while we work on our homework, and I could fill her in a little more on the practical side of being a high school girl," she added.

Duncan eyed her, sighed, and just muttered, "Just keep Kenny off my back if he hears about this."

"Kenny's a creampuff. You can't be worried about him," the girl laughed.

"I will never understand you two," Duncan scowled.

"Nobody understands anybody," Isabel chortled. "It's why life can be so interesting when we try."

"Right," he muttered, and just shook his head.

 _To Be Continued….._


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own Andy Kuhn & Phil Hester's Firebreather characters, and am only using them to tell a story meant for entertainment purposes only._

 **Fire-Breather**

 **By LJ58**

 **4**

"I'm not looking forward to this," Duncan sighed as the VTOL piloted by Coach Barnes settled down at the remote MEGTAF base where Belloc was currently held.

"Why not," Daora asked him curiously. "It is a great honor to be allowed into the king's presence," she reminded him.

The apparent coach glanced back at the currently human-looking kaiju, and scowled as he shut down the engines, and opened the hatch. "So, Margaret, you really want to do this," he asked the silent, scowling woman that sit beside him in the cockpit.

"Consider it a necessity," she told him with a dry expression. "It's time my son understands exactly what is expected of him as the future leader of the kaiju."

"He could abdicate," Blitz drawled.

"There's an….."

"Don't finish that sentence, young man. Or you will be grounded so long you'll need a wheelchair to finally get out of your room."

Duncan only groaned as the hatch opened, and he looked up to see an honor guard of six, armed troopers waiting on them.

"Nice to be trusted," he muttered.

"You are going into the most heavily guarded part of our base," Blitz shot back. "We don't just let anyone wander in or out," he reminded the teen.

Duncan resisted the urge to make a sarcastic quip just then when he caught his mother's glare when he glanced her way. He just stood up, not too surprised to notice Daora was looking rather eager, and happy to be here as she stayed so close to him she might as well be glued to his side.

Then she proved she had her own issues as she leaned close, and rasped, "Are you truly certain it is all right for me to appear before the king with you? I do not wish to trespass even for such an honor…."

He eyed her bright, flushed visage, and realized the young kaiju was actually a little uneasy, and he could feel it. Feel her. As if….

He frowned, and then shook his head.

"Daora, it's fine. Belloq may be king, but he's my dad, and a bit of a…. Well, he's just a, well, not a typical dad, but…."

"He's a smug, arrogant male, but he cares for all those he is trying to save, Daora," Margaret Rosenblatt came up behind them to smile at the girl as she put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "And don't worry. I've already cleared this visit with Belloq, and he's looking forward to meeting you."

Duncan started to speak, as did Blitz from the look on his bleak face, but Margaret cut them both off, eyeing Duncan as she did.

"And you," she stated pointedly to her son, adding that part firmly. "So don't think you can just run off again."

"I don't run off," he sputtered.

His mother's expression was less than timid, or convinced.

"Just remember, you need to see your father, young man. There are a lot of issues you need to face, and things you do need to figure out for your own sake. Now, let's go," she said, and led the way off the aircraft as the six armed men only waited for all of them to deplane before turning silently, and following them.

Duncan, for his part, was starting to feel as nervous as Daora, but while he could now sense some of the young kaiju's emotions beside him, he didn't seem to feel anything from those around him. Not that he needed to try.

The look in those cold dark eyes as those men marched after them let him know exactly how those men felt about any of them. He saw the same look in Barnes' eyes every time he did anything the paranoid man decided had to be unnatural.

He was pretty sure he could just belch, and the man would take it as a sign of the apocalypse.

The thought made him snigger, and Daora smiled at him, sharing his mirth if not the cause, but it only made his mother stare, and Blitz glower all the more.

"Something funny," his mother asked quietly as they went down long, deep halls that led into the bowels of the heavily reinforced base built mostly to hold the few kaiju taken alive.

"Private joke," Duncan grinned, glancing back at Blitz who still just scowled bleakly. "Maybe I'll tell you later."

"Just try to be serious when you see your father. And remember, this is for you, so be honest with him, and try to listen for once."

"I listen," Duncan all but sputtered his protest.

Margaret only eyed him now, her skeptical expression very familiar to him.

"Mom," he groaned.

"You know, a good military school might be what he needs to learn some real discipline…."

"You," Margaret paused before a huge, metal door with four armed, and anxious guards. "Zip it," she shot at Barnes. "You, behave," she told her son as Daora tried, and failed to stifle a giggle.

"Hey," he sputtered.

"I'm sorry, my prince. But…. You remind me of mother when she and father often argued. Even he, lord of all the Eastern Kaiju could never win an argument with her. She could be….forceful for a human."

"Well, I'm sure she is a very special woman," Margaret nodded to her. "As are you. Now, let's go see Belloq, and settle a few things. You can wait outside," she added for Barnes' sake as the doors began to slowly open.

"I am supposed to monitor…."

"Then monitor. From outside," Margaret spat, and not one of the guards or escort so much as cracked a smile at Blitz' bewildered expression as Duncan rolled his eyes, and just headed for the open door before them.

"Ah, Duncan," a deep, gravelly voice drawled as the doors clanged shut behind them after the three of them had entered.

Duncan felt Daora's hand suddenly take his closest hand, and squeeze tightly.

"Dad," he nodded, looking up at the huge kaiju that most of the world feared on sight. Usually with good reason. "We need to talk."

"Obviously. Hello, Margaret," he turned to nod his huge head toward his mate from behind the glowing bars of energy-cell. "I trust you have been well since your last visit."

"I can't complain," she said stiffly. "Still, it's Duncan that needs to talk now. Just like I said when we arranged this visit."

"Yes," the big Kaiju nodded, and then he turned to eye Daora. "And who is this little one. She smells familiar, but…."

Daora abruptly regained her own kaiju form, bowing all but prostrate before him as she cried, "Forgive me, great lord! I have become comfortable in human form learning to fit in with my betrothed, and did not think….!"

"Daora," Duncan frowned down at her, reaching for her. "You don't have to do that. Stand up. Dad's not going to hurt you. And you can take any form you want. You're with me."

"In this, you are correct, Duncan," Belloq actually smiled. "And it pleases me to see you are already accepting your chosen mate, and are already bonding with her so well."

"Bonding? We…. I haven't touched her," he sputtered.

"He is yet unaware of the magics kaiju share, great lord," Daora cautiously remarked as she slowly stood upright again, and eyed him warily as she stayed close to Duncan.

"This I know. You have been showing him things, though, have you not, Daora?"

"I have taught him what little I can," Daora nodded to the king of the kaiju. "But I fear I have yet to manage to teach him to unleash the powers within him."

"I just still find it hard to believe I can do what she does," Duncan muttered. "She has real magic…."

"As do you, my son. All kaiju do, but very few can use it as well as others. As my son, you should be far more gifted than most."

"You couldn't have mentioned that sooner," he complained.

"Would you have listened? Or would you ignore it, as you've ignored all those lessons I have tried to teach you," Belloq demanded.

Daora smiled timidly at Duncan's reaction which was quite visible on his mostly human visage.

"He does have a point, son."

"It wasn't like that," Duncan sputtered. "You were trying to get me to kill!"

"I can see you were not ready, or willing to accept certain lessons, son. Still, there is much more that my son and heir should be aware of now that the world knows of you. Especially my world," he added.

"Uh, I thought we settled that part," Duncan said uneasily.

"Far from it," Belloq told him. "Abbadon and Astaroth were impetuous, and willful, but they are only part of a growing faction that wish to return to open war. They wish to extinguish all human life on the planet," he told Duncan, who gaped in horror. "That, my son, is why you are here, and why I favor you. For I have already foreseen that if the humans are pushed too far, they will destroy this planet, and all life on it with their nuclear weapons. Even we kaiju cannot hope to survive if humans war on us so."

"H-How do you think I can stop _that,"_ Duncan complained as his mother now just stood back, and watched them in silence.

"First, are you willing to listen? Are you ready to accept that there are things you may find distasteful, if necessary?"

"You mean, like getting married," he sputtered, and felt Daora cringe at his side. "Uh, nothing against you," he quickly told her, finding he didn't want to hurt her, "But we're both still kind of young here."

"Your age notwithstanding, it is time you accept the reality of your standing, my son," Belloq growled as he lowered his head down to stare right into his eyes as he looked out at him. "Before our mutual enemies move on you, and all you hold dear."

Duncan drew a deep breath, and slowly let it out.

"Fine. Fine, hit me with both barrels. Just tell me, can anything you know help me protect….everyone. Even from those other kaiju?"

"Yes," his father declared without hesitation. "Only you must first accept your full legacy. You must accept that you, Duncan, are kaiju, and that means accepting all that means. Are you truly ready?"  
Duncan glanced from his mother, to Daora, and then back to Belloq.

"Yes. Tell me everything," he demanded.

"So be it," Belloq said, and slowly straightened himself as best he could in his cell. "Then listen closely, my son, and learn what you should be," he declared as he began to speak.

 **~FB~**

"The prince has taken his bride to see Belloq," the spy told his master. "We may be too late."

"Far from it," the shadowed behemoth grumbled as he stirred only in thought. "Contact Zhaitan. Have him and his followers attack the prince as he departs the human fortress. Conflict so close to the prince's pets will turn them against him, and show him as the craven weakling he is when he inevitably falls. Even Belloq will have to turn to another true blood heir when his hybrid spawn is crushed before the eyes of the world."

"Understood, master. But what of the prince's bodyguards?"

"Send the sigils. This is a duel of honor. Let them stand and watch helplessly as we show this princeling is but a scrawny mammal hardly worthy of his sire's blood. Now, go. Before he can depart."

"At once, master," the underling bowed low.

"And, wyrm," the behemoth growled. "Ensure the prince's mother dies, too. That should ensure no one else thinks these humans are worthy of sheltering. Or protecting."

"Understood, master," the messenger bowed again, and then scuttled away to carry out his orders.

 **~FB~**

Duncan sat in Dr. Pytel's lab, giving the often scatterbrained woman a faint glower as he focused more on what Belloq had revealed than anything the woman was doing.

"You seem unusually distracted today," the scientist said pleasantly. "Looking forward to your engagement?"

Duncan grunted.

"Oh, I know that one. Got woman trouble already?"

Duncan barely paid any attention to the woman drawing blood from his arm only after carefully moving one of his scales, and then finding his veins.

"You know, I think your skin has gotten tougher, too. Not just the obvious scales," the brunette smiled on as she put the three tubes of his dark blood aside. "The skin underneath seems tougher, too. Had you noticed?"

"Wasn't really paying attention," he murmured.

"Duncan? I hope you know I really am here to help. If there's anything you want to ask? Anything you are worried about?"

"Doc, I just found out I'm a prince, and number one target for both sides," he informed her dryly, still absorbing all the things, many of them beyond shocking, his father had revealed. "How could that possibly worry me?"

"Ah, right. Well, uh, if there's anything else. You know, anything medical? I can assure you, though, that everything looks pretty much normal. Er, for you, I mean. You are in great shape," she beamed. "I wish I was in your condition. Seriously, I envy you your BMI, and metabolism."

"You wouldn't like the diet," he muttered, thinking of his mandatory charcoal intake to keep him healthy by his own standards.

"Well, I guess those briquettes are an acquired taste," she tried to tease.

Duncan only groaned, feeling his hunger suddenly surge at the reminder. He had been too nervous to eat breakfast, and now it was catching up to him.

He already learned that Daora was omnivorous. She could eat almost anything, so long as she ate a minimum amount of silicate she apparently favored. A nourishment she apparently could supply at will with her very practical, and versatile magic gifts.

He sighed, and held out his left hand.

The hand of power, Belloq had told him.

"Something interesting there," Dr. Pytel asked as he found himself focusing on his palm.

Duncan merely stared at his hand, and found himself feeling a strange, niggling warmth there as if holding his hand over a small fire.

Impulse had him remembering his father's words, and he narrowed his eyes as he slowly closed his hand, and when he opened it, there was a small, but thick chunk of porous charcoal resting there as the scientist gaped at him as he simply popped the briquette into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

He had been growing hungry anyway, and thinking of everything else, he fixed his mind on the need, and while he would never admit just how shocked he was just then, he found the brackish coal actually tastier than the usual offerings his mother bought him. He wasn't exactly sure how this worked, or where his magic had gotten that coal briquette, but something about it was….very good.

Better than good.

"Duncan, when did you start doing sleight of hand? How….?"

"C'mon, Doc," he sighed. "It's not medical, so really, it's nothing to worry about," he dismissed her naked astonishment as she stared at him, ignoring the clipboard in her hands just then. "So, anything else? Or did you get enough of my blood for your usual vampires?"

"Vampires," she chortled typically now. "Honestly, Duncan, we aren't vampires. We're just trying to better understand how you….work," she admitted. "Honestly, there are things I still don't get. Such as how your mother even managed to…."

"Okay, that's enough. Don't need that image in my head just now," he jumped up, reaching for his shirt as he shook his head vehemently.

"Jeez, Duncan, it's only natural to be curious about sex. It's not like…."

"Lalalalalala," he sang as he pulled on his shirt even as he headed for the door where Margaret and Daora waited. "Not listening."

"But, Duncan…."

"Not, not, not," he declared in singsong, and pulled the door open. "So, we're good. I can go?"

"Well, send in your new friend, and once we get a few samples from her, you can take off," she smiled. "Maybe she won't be as prudish as you seem….."

Duncan grumbled, and stomped out of the examination room.

"Daora," he nodded. "The doctor will see you now. Don't worry. She's okay. She just wants to take some blood, and maybe ask you a few dozen embarrassing questions," he muttered as she eyed him from where she stood near his mother, who sat eyeing a magazine with forced casualness.

Blitz, and their escort, stood nearby pretending to notice nothing.

"Why would this physician wish to embarrass us," she asked with a frown as she hesitated to eye him in confusion.

"Oh, don't mind him," Dr. Pytel appeared in the door. "He's just surprisingly squeamish about some topics for a teenage boy. Or are they all like that," she asked of Margaret who looked her way just then.

"I wouldn't know about other boys. All I have is him," she smirked.

"Mom," Duncan sighed as one of the men actually grinned now.

Daora stood close to Duncan, eyed the small woman, and then asked, "This is necessary?"

"Uh, yeah. Don't worry. I'll be right here. You need me, just call, and….."

"Sure you don't just want to stay with her? Of course, I need her to change since this is a first visit….."

"Change," Daora asked, looking uneasy now, having learned well enough how some humans viewed her.

"Clothes," Duncan told her.

"Oh, no, no, no. I want to see her," Dr. Pytel told him. "All of her. Why the physics involved have to be beyond fascinating, and….."

Duncan suddenly growled, and stepped between them as he glared at the scientist. "Look, Doc. You can do your usual tests, but you don't do anything that upsets her. Got it?"

"Uh, sure, Duncan. You know you can trust me," she said, stunned at his sudden moodiness as Margaret only grinned.

"You see," Blitz whispered to her from nearby. "That kid is dangerously close to….."

"He's being protective," Margaret said blandly as Duncan watched Dr. Pytel lead Daora into the examining room now, and pointedly shut the door. "Which is understandable, since they are bonding, and it won't be long before he'll be ready to…."

Duncan turned to frown darkly at her, and Margaret trailed off.

"To what," Blitz demanded.

"None of your business, coach," Duncan said curtly as he walked over, sat down, and focused on the now closed door.

"This doesn't worry you," Blitz demanded of Margaret? "What if Belloq decides to make him choose between…."

Duncan looked up at him, and scowled.

"Really? You're still that thick? I'm here, moron, because dad already chose. He chose _both_ sides. Now why don't you sit down, shut up, and let me think?"

Barnes sputtered, but Margaret only smiled.

She had not heard, or even understood everything Belloq had said, but she had heard enough to know her son had a lot of things on his mind just now. And he was facing things that he could no longer ignore, or postpone. Not that he had even understood that his passive acceptance of Daora had already started a deeper bonding between them than he had realized.

It wouldn't be long before he deemed her his, and he would be even more protective of her as well.

If nothing else, at least she knew her son would no longer face being alone in the world. That, if nothing else, made her smile.

 _To Be Continued….._


	5. Chapter 5

_I do not own Andy Kuhn & Phil Hester's Firebreather characters, and am only using them to tell a story meant for entertainment purposes only._

 **Fire-Breather**

 **By LJ58**

 **5**

Duncan wasn't sorry to leave MEGTAF behind as they climbed back aboard the VTOL, and Barnes went to the pilot's seat without a word as the escort stopped outside the hatch, and just watched them board.

"Tell Belloc we will visit again when we can," Margaret smiled back at one of the troopers. "And thanks for being so professional, guys," she added before the hatch closed, and she joined Barnes in the cockpit.

Duncan just sat behind them, not even looking at Daora as she only smiled at him, leaving him to his thoughts.

"You guys strapped in," Blitz asked as he started the engines.

"Yeah," Duncan muttered, and glanced over at Daora who only nodded as his eyes checked her belts. He was still astonished to find that he was already using magic just by virtue of changing as he had in the past. Getting over that mental stumbling block was apparently opening up a great awareness of the energies yet within in according to his father.

Of course, knowing that, and using it were still too different things.

"Okay, going up," he said, and took control of the ship even as the engines began to whine as they rose into the air.

Even as the jet began to rise, Blitz shouted a warning, and dove to starboard even as the entire aircraft shook violently.

"We're going down," he shouted, and spared time to glare back at Duncan. "Kid, I'm starting to think you're bad luck," he complained even as the nose slammed into the ground, and everyone sat staring around for a moment as the sounds of the downed jet settled around them.

Then something huge slammed into the ground nearby.

"Well, maybe it's the other way around," Duncan grumbled. "Even think of that," he said, and rose to his feet after just snapping the jammed seatbelt, and eyeing Daora. "You okay?"

"I am well, my prince," she smiled ruefully. "Only I suspect I know what is happening."

"What is it," Margaret asked before he could answer.

"While father and grandfather spared me, and eventually father betrothed me to you," she said in a somber tone. "I have a cousin who is part of the group that seeks to unseat Belloc, and wanted me, as all hybrids, slain without mercy."

"Who," Duncan sputtered. "Who is this jerk?"

"Come out, little princeling," a growling snarl demanded. "Come out, and prove yourself, or die."

"Zhaitan," Darora grimaced. "Prince of the great seas, and son of Leviathan. He who would be king."

Duncan growled himself, and began to change as he stalked through the jet to the hatch, and simply kicked it open even as he finished transforming.

"Okay, jerk," he snarled up at the nearly ten foot kaiju that stood before him. "What is your problem?"

The kaiju looked rather small to Duncan's eyes just then after facing some true monsters of late, his father the least of them. The webbed creature looked like it had armor and scales, but his elongated, fishy face didn't endear him to Duncan just then.

"Come out, and die, little princeling. I challenge you, and before witnesses," he said, gesturing to five much taller kaiju he had seen before then, "I challenge you for all. For when you fall, you, and your entire misbegotten clan die."

"What," Blitz sputtered as he noted four of the five witnesses were moving to put down strange pillars they slammed into the earth, forming a square around them.

"My prince," Daora cmae up behind him. "Zhaitan invokes the death rite. If he defeats you, he'll slay all of us, and start the war his father desires."

Duncan, not quite seven feet tall in his newest form, merely glared up at the slightly taller kaiju, and shook his head.

"If you knew how tired I am of all the posers in my life, you wouldn't have dared show your face on my side of the world today, catfish-face."

"You vile little human spawn," the ichthyoid kaiju snarled and nodded to his fifth witness.

The insectoid raised two of six hands, and made arcane gestures, and suddenly the four pillars planted around the downed jet glowed with a crimson light, and a shimmering barrier rose around the humans and hybrids standing before Zhaitan.

"Only one of us leaves this arena, little hybrid. It will not be you. Prepare to die, craven monkey."

"Daora," he murmured as Blitz scowled, and tried in vain to arm a weapon that obviously wasn't working right. "Protect mom. Whatever happens, stay close to her."

"I hear, and obey, Prince Duncan," she said, and moved back to stand with Margaret, surreptitiously moving her back to the cover of the jet.

"This light show is screwing up my guns, kid. I think it's all on you," he said as he struggled with his weapon.

"Like that's new," Duncan grunted.

"Your weapons are less than an annoyance, human," Zhaitan sneered at him. "As are you. I'll just have a snack know, before I show the Council how poor a choice Belloc truly has made," he crowed, and reached down for the agent with a large, webbed hand crowned with long claws.

Duncan was already moving even as Blitz dove for cover behind the jet where the women were watching.

"Stay down," Margaret shouted at him.

"Duh, comes to mind, woman," he spat irritably, still trying to get one of his weapons to work. "Hey, lizard-girl," he quipped. "What's with the light show? Why is it shutting my gear down?"

"It's a nullifying field," she told him. "Nothing but magic works inside it while the challengers face one another."

"And you have no magic," Zhaitan scoffed, and lunged at him again after missing the smaller target not once now, but twice.

"And what do you have, catfish-face," Duncan asked, insulting the prince of whatever again, since he had noted it did kind of piss him off.

"I think your tongue will be but the first thing I remove from you, pretender to the throne," Zhaitan snapped, and this time leapt up, and came down in a great pounce, only to gape as Duncan simply flew up, and hovered over him.

"Leave the arena, craven," Zhaitan actually smiled up at him, "And I win by default. Even as you show all my brothers your human cowardice."

"Who said I leaving, fish stick," he spat, and let lose a gout of flame as the big kaiju screamed, and recoiled.

"Someone apparently didn't get the news flash," Duncan sneered, and flew down, and slammed both joined fists into the kaiju's unprotected jaw. "But it's a bad idea for a fish out of water to fight a _fire-breather_."

Zhaitan recoiled, his expression beyond furious, and looking a little anxious.

"I get the feeling someone set this moron up," Blitz told him from his vantage point. "Which makes me wonder if killing him might not actually be a bad idea. What now, kid?"

"Who said I was going to kill him," Duncan spat. "I'm sick of everyone telling me what I have to do. Even Belloc," he spat. "But I'm sure not going to let some fish out of water show up, and tell me what he's going to do to my family without sending him home with the understanding…I am sick of all these posers," he shouted, and slammed another double fist into the back of the kaiju's nape.

The big creature went sprawling, bawling in shock and rage, but the fire had visibly weakened, and scorched him, and even the challenger knew he couldn't take much more of those blasts.

He still rolled over, and kicked violently, just missing Duncan who rose back into the sky, and was taking another deep breath.

"No," one of the five witnesses shouted now. "Son of Belloc, if you do not wish to kill him, stay your magic. Zhaitan is too weak to resist another blow."

Duncan swallowed the fluttering flames that played around his lips, and glared down.

Magic? His flame was magic?

"Is this some trick," he demanded of the kaiju.

"Only on the prince of the seas, Prince of all Kaiju," the insect kaiju now spoke. "We were told you had no magic, and used only human trickery and your father's strength to best your first challengers. That claim is obviously false. Zhaitan, the prince of the west has said he would spare you. Do you yield?"

Daora dared move forward, looking intently at him now, and Duncan landed nearby, but just out of the kaiju's reach.

Zhaitan finally got to his knees, and glared impotently at the hybrid he had been assured was weak, and unable to resist a true challenge. He certainly wasn't supposed to have magic.

He slammed a clenched fist into the ground, and the very ground shook with his rage. Then he sagged where he knelt, and all but snarled inaudibly, "I yield to the son of Belloc."

"What was that," Duncan demanded, daringly stepping forward.

"I yield to the son of Belloc," Zhaitan growled, his voice booming now.

"Which means you yield to my betrothed, Daora, and so you owe her an apology for your insults. _Apologize,"_ Duncan demanded.

"Apologize…..to….."

"Or we will see if you _can_ take another blast," Duncan said coldly as he ignored his mother's gasp, and Blitz's scowl.

"I apologize, Lady Daora, daughter of Mephistoles," he nodded to her.

"Good. Then I accept your surrender, with one condition."

"Condition," the insect asked.

"Yes," Duncan smiled now. "If Leviathan has a problem with me leading the kaiju in the future, let him come to me. Not slink around in shadows telling lies, and using pawns to test me. That makes me think he's the coward without magic, or skills," he pointed out tellingly as every one of the witnesses murmured over his words.

"The challenge is met. The challenge is done," the insect chittered, and gestured, and the crimson barrier faltered, and came down.

Beyond, unseen until then, the guards from MEGTAF stood staring uneasily as the massive creatures that had appeared from nowhere had taken out one of their jets, and seemed to just be conversing with one another. Blitz scowled, wondering why they hadn't just attacked, and wondered if that cease-fire magic of theirs had not affected his teams, too.

"My skills were obviously not suited to challenging you, prince of the west," Zhaitan grumbled as he finally began to recover enough to rise. "But know that my father is not king of the great seas without cause. He has magic, and he has skill and power. He will come after he hears your words, and hears how you shamed his son. He will come, and he will raze all you know, before he offers you the mercy of death."

Duncan felt something surge in him, and growled back, "If he's so sure of himself, why hasn't he already shown himself," he quipped. "No, he sends you. Abaddon and Astaroth. He sends pawns. My words stand."

The five nodded, and the insect kaiju gestured, and all six just somehow vanished.

Duncan could hear them. He could smell them. But just then even he couldn't see them.

Until he focused his fledgling magic that until recently he had been unaware he even possessed, and his eyes belatedly sharpened, and he saw the six stomping away, vanishing down into the ground even as a chasm opened, and then closed for them. One unnoticed by the humans around them.

"How….? How did they do that," Blitz sputtered, looking furious, and uneasy at seeing his enemy just vanish so easily.

"Magic," Daora said, looking after the departing kaiju herself.

"What she said," Duncan nodded at him as the men only then began to move forward.

"Colonel, begging your pardon, but what the hell was that," one of the men asked as the unit only now dared to approach them.

"Never mind. Get us another bird, and someone give me a direct line to the general. Now. And, you, kid, come with me," he snarled. "We're going to see the general….."

"Let's go home," he told Daora, and took the still human-looking girl into his arms, and took off. "See you there, mom," he told her.

He didn't even bother to acknowledge Blitz. Frankly, after a week of him growling and snapping at him, he was already tired of him.

Margaret stared after him for a moment, and then smiled at one of the men.

"So, can someone get me a transport? Ours seemed to have malfunctioned."

Blitz sputtered, and shouted incomprehensibly, and in vain as the men just stared helplessly after the departing Duncan.

 **~FB~**

"Still up?"

"It's dad's fault," he grumbled. "He gave me…homework," he said, and lifted his left hand as his mother stood in the door, and studied him where he sat on the end of his bed.

Margaret watched him, but didn't say a word as he had somehow formed a glowing sphere of blue light in his palm.

"So, Daora is already asleep?"

"She went right to bed after supper. I think she was really impressed with you out there this morning," his mother smiled.

"That makes one of us," he grumbled.

"Are you okay," his mother asked as she walked into the room now, and sat beside him as he closed his hand, and the blue sphere of light just vanished as if it were a bubble popping.

"Do you know how often you've asked me that lately," he smiled ruefully.

"A few times," she smiled back. "Seriously. I know today was hard on you."

"What was hard was taking a breath, and realizing that today was….strangely easy. And it even felt almost….normal."

"Duncan," she frowned.

"It was like….I wasn't really out there, mom," he frowned, and raised both fists. "I just heard him threaten you and Daora, and then…. It was like I went on autopilot, and I almost did kill that….jerk. I wanted to burn him to ash. Tear him to pieces, and stomp on every single piece."

"But you didn't," Margaret pointed out.

"Because by then, the autopilot switched off, and that was just me at the end. "Until then, I was…. God, mom, a part of me even wanted to do it. Still wanted to do it even after I…."

"Why," his other asked quietly.

Duncan said nothing for a few minutes as they sat there, both just eyeing the other.

"How do you feel about Daora now," she finally asked.

Duncan drew a deep breath.

"It's weird," he admitted. "When I first met her, it was like… Great, another problem dad dumped on me. Only the more I'm with her…."

"The more you care?"

"When she said that jerk wanted to kill her from the start," Duncan murmured after a pause. "I suddenly wanted to rip off his limbs, and watch him try to get home on the stumps," he growled.

"You're bonding. You are getting closer than you realize. Before long, you'll be ready to…."

"Mom," he blushed furiously. "TMI."

"And if that doesn't say you're still my son, I don't know what will," she grinned at him.

He glared at him, but kept his muttering inaudible. His mom could be unreasonable about things like that, and he might be a prince of the kaiju, and learning magic, but sometimes his mom could still scare him. After all, she was a human that stood and argued with Belloc.

"I understand that," he finally said as she only smiled at him. "I do. It's just, aren't we still kind of young for…..all the rest."

"Duncan," she chuckled. "No one, not even your father expects you to just set up house, and start having children…."

"What," he sputtered, obviously not having thought that far himself.

"I'm just saying, you're are only taking the first steps by learning to accept Daora, and finding out how much she means to you."

"And where does that leave Jenna, or any of my other friends," he scowled.

"I'd say that was up to you," Margaret told him. "You're young, son, and you obviously still have a lot of growing to do, even if it might seem otherwise to you just now."

"Oh, I know I do," he grumbled, still thinking of some of the things his father had shared.

"All right. So, I suspect if Jenna cares about you enough, and I think she might considering what she has already risked, then she'll be there whatever you decide. I think we both already know that Daora won't mind the company," she added.

"That girl…."

Duncan shook his head, and sighed, but Margaret didn't miss the wistful smile that crossed his face even as he gave that unspoken complaint.

"So, you are learning to enjoy her company."

"She's nicer than I expected. A bit silly, and pretty naïve at times for….well, someone her age, but…. Yeah, I like having her around," he admitted.

"I thought you did. Still, there's something else we need to talk about."

"Yeah," he asked.

"Leviathan," she said somberly.

"Oh. Him," he grumbled.

"I went back and asked Belloc about him."

"Yeah," her son asked.

"He said to let him know if he did appear. That Leviathan isn't the kind to face you in a fight. He's more likely to go for your back. So be careful, son. And keep your eyes open."

"It's never easy," Duncan sighed.

"Nothing worthwhile ever is," his mother told him. "Now, go to bed, and get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day."

Duncan shot her a telling expression as she rose to her feet, and headed for the door.

"I mean it, Duncan. Bed. Sleep. You aren't going to figure it out sitting and brooding all night."

"I was not…."

"Trust me, I know you were. You're a lot like you're father with that one."

"I am not," he sputtered as she switched off the light, and quipped, "Bed."

He muttered again, and crawled up onto the bed to sprawl out atop the quilt as she shut the door.

"I'm not," he muttered. Only after the door closed.

"I _heard_ you," his mother said in a singsong chortle.

 **~FB~**

He had expected more out of his son when he returned.

True, he had withheld certain facts when he sent him out as much to test his offspring, as that half-human spawn that Belloc dared foist off on them as an heir. Still, Dirazzi himself admitted that Zhaitan was virtually outmatched from the start.

The hybrid was obviously stronger than expected, and the human hybrid was already finding his own core of magic.

That made direct attacks as foolhardy as facing Belloc himself.

Something Leviathan had learned himself long ago, and still carried the scars to testify to his daring.

That he still survived was also testimony to his own will and strength more than Belloc's mercy, because every kaiju alive knew that Belloc had none. He had suspected the boy was craven when he heard he would not kill. Perhaps could not kill.

Only Dirazzi had been quite articulate in his report on the challenge.

The boy had been a single blow from slaying Zhaitan.

The battle itself had seemed a mismatch from the beginning. Until the hybrid had revealed his true strength. Even he had not expected his son to be that badly beaten. He would have to ponder that. Because his next move had to be both effective, and decisive, or even he might lose much of his support. Which could prove costly once Belloc stopped playing games, and chose to come after him again.

He had barely survived their last meeting. Yet if he could take out the heir, Belloc would have no choice but to find another to replace him. Someone of Leviathan's choosing, if not he himself. Especially if the heir could be used to undermine the king once and for all.

The betrothal he mused grimly. That might well be the best link to exploit, if he could eliminate that weak, third-gen human vermin. She was key. Only how to best use her?

He sat in his lair, ignoring the few hangers-on that stirred around him as he brooded, and pondered his next move.

 _To Be Continued…._


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own Andy Kuhn & Phil Hester's Firebreather characters, and am only using them to tell a story meant for entertainment purposes only._

 **Fire-Breather**

 **By LJ58**

 **6**

"…so then we were about to leave when….."

"Duncan," Jenna frowned as she realized he had just stopped his story midsentence.

"Beloved," Daora asked, noting his distraction as Duncan turned, and just stared at a nearby wall.

"Did you hear that," he asked them.

"I didn't hear nothing," Kenny shrugged as Isabel just made a confused face.

"What did you hear," Daora asked him.

"A….sound…. Like a baby…crying. Only…."

He frowned, and rose to his feet, his lunch forgotten as he kept staring at the wall.

"Sounds like someone needs help," he said, and headed for the exit.

"Duncan, wait," Jenna said, starting to get up.

"Stay here," he said, but he was looking at Daora. "Keep her safe, guys. I just….feel I need to check this out," he said grimly.

"Be careful," Jenna and Daora both called out, and then glanced at one another.

"You guys just stay close. Just in case," he said, all of them having been forewarned that Leviathan was now after him.

Or more likely, his back.

Which likely meant, too, that he might try using his friends against him.

"Be wary," Daora called out. "It may be another trap," she told him as he reached for the door.

Duncan went out the door, paying no attention to the bell that signaled the end of lunch, and the start of the next class.

He walked out across the grassy clearing beside the school, and heard someone calling to him, but ignored them as he focused on the sounds that were not sounds, and yet he heard.

Pulling off his shirt, he let himself transform, freeing his wings even as he launched himself into the air, and flew out toward the open desert. He never heard the man cursing behind him since he was focused only what he had sensed, or heard.

Behind him, a silver-haired man in gym clothes swore, "Damn it, damn it, damn it," as he pulled out a radio. "This is Barnes, what the hell is going on out in the desert….?"

"How did you know we had trouble, sir," someone reported almost at once.

"Just…. Never mind. What's going on out there?"

"We have some kind of….thing. A new kaiju. It just popped up, and we're trying to hold it back, but it's hard to stop, sir. Frankly, we were about to call in bombers… Good God, what's that," the man shouted, and the radio went static before the channel died.

"Talk to me," Barnes barked, and raced for one of his hidden airships in the maintenance shed. "C'mon, someone report!"

No one answered.

 **~FB~**

Duncan didn't fly long before he found the cause of his curious summons. For that was how he now viewed it. He saw a massive, semi-reptilian kaiju curled up, obviously sheltering something, and all around it, dozens of tanks, and trucks filled with men firing on the unmoving creature.

Then the sleek, horned head rose, and dark amber eyes fixed on him as the kaiju looked right at him.

"Thank all the gods," the huge kaiju cried. "Son of Belloc, help me! I need to carry my egg to the heart of the desert to warm, but these humans will not let me pass. Please, I swear I mean no harm. I only need the sun's heat. Nothing more."

Duncan looked down at the men, and noted some of them were hesitating now.

"Okay, mother," he called her. "Just hold on, and I'll try to talk to them."

He turned, and flew down, and flew right into a barrage as the men now pointedly targeted him.

He hit the ground hard, and sat up, feeling bruised, sore, and very, very angry.

"Okay," he snarled, his jeweled heart flaring, "No more Mister Nice Kaiju," he spat, and stamped a foot down after he rose again.

Even he was shocked when his foot set off a small quake, and the men all staggered and stumbled, stopping all shooting for a moment. Then another man aimed at him again, screaming, "Kill them both!"

"Hang on, no one here wants….!"

The bullet bounced off his thankfully thick skull, but it left his head ringing.

"And I thought Barnes was bad," he spat, and turned to eye the lunatic screaming for more and more fire. His ire rose as he drew a deep breath, and exploded.

 **~FB~**

Barnes flew over the devastated MEGTAF forces below, and saw rescue and emergency already on the scene.

He circled around to land, and was stunned at how hot the air felt beyond the usual desert heat. The men, he noted, were all scorched, as if they had been outside under the sun without protection for days. They were all moaning, and crying in pain as paramedics tended them.

Even more astonishing were the pools of molten metal all around him. Some completely shapeless. Some still semisolid enough to suggest shapes.

"What the hell did this," Barnes asked as he approached one of the still coherent men who was not as badly burned as the others.

"A flying kaiju," he grimaced. "We knocked it out of the sky before he could do anything, and we thought we had it. Then it just…. Erupted," the soldier told him. "It's the only way to describe it. The damn thing unleashed heat, and more heat. We barely got out of the vehicles before….."

The man gestured with a bandaged hand helplessly.

"A flying kaiju," Barnes said grimly. "This one," he asked, holding up a PDA with an image of a transformed Duncan on it.

"That's it. Damn thing hit like us like a bomb, colonel. Small as it was, we never had a chance. It was as bad as that damn Belloc," he spat.

"Yeah. I'll bet," Barnes said. "Hang in there, mister. I'll get on this myself."

"Be careful, sir," the man groaned. "I don't think this thing cares about humans."

"How many did we lose?"

"Surprisingly, none," the soldier admitted. "But we all just about got toasted," he told him.

"Just hang tough. And get better. We need you guys back on the line," he told him.

The man grimaced more than smiled, and gave him a weak nod.

 **~FB~**

"Thank you, son of Belloc," the semi-reptilian kaiju smiled as she eyed the glowing egg he had helped her move, and then bathe in his flames. "I feared being in the open for the time necessary, but you have saved me days of danger. We shall never forget your kindness," the mother said, carefully lifted her warmed egg, and quickly vanished back into the bowels of the earth.

"Think nothing of it," he said, still furious those guys wouldn't even listen to him. No, they just wanted to shoot things. Like a mother, trying to hatch her child.

He turned as the earth closed behind the mother, and looked back toward the desert.

He planned on just checking things out, and heading back to school, but those guys had changed things. Furious as he still was, he needed to use his brain now. Like his mom.

Like his dad, he was admittedly loathe to admit.

He took to the skies again, and flew not toward town, or the school, but a certain mountainous retreat where only a handful of people knew that MEGTAF has a secret, underground lair set up just to watch him.

Well, to hold Belloc, too, but mostly, he had no doubt, to watch him.

And the first time he sees someone, they don't even try to talk. They just open fire.

Sometimes, he had to wonder if some of the kaiju had a point. Humans were idiots.

In only minutes, he was over the mountain peak, and he dropped down, sneaking up on the guards so he wouldn't risk getting shot at again, and yelled only when he stepped out.

"Hey, remember me," he demanded.

"Duncan Rosenblatt," one of the MEGTAF soldiers nodded. "Sure, kid. You need something?"

"Oh, yeah," he said, retracting his wings only then. "I need to see your boss. General Taylor. Oh, and a new shirt," he said, holding up the ragged garment reduced to tatters by gunfire.

"Damn," the other guard said as the first reported Duncan's presence. "You get into a scrap again?"

"You could say that. The general?"

"He's expecting you, kid," the first guard nodded as he put his radio aside. "Follow me," he said as someone inside opened the door.

"Thanks," he said, and walked after him down the familiar halls, and barely noted the soldiers, many new faces, including some that eyed him suspiciously.

Like the lunatic that tried to shoot him down.

"He's expecting you," the secretary nodded at him, gesturing to the door when they reached the office.

"I'll wait on you," the guard said.

"How about you get me that shirt," he asked, tossing him the rag as he headed for the inner office. "Mom will freak if I go home in that."

"I don't doubt it," the man admitted, and nodded as he just tossed the shirt into a waste basket.

"Duncan," the burly man behind the desk smiled as he studied him as he walked into his office. "What brings you…."

"Let me guess, you got a new shipment of clowns in, and someone forgot to give them the full brief?"

"What?"

"I just flew out to the desert to find a bunch of your guys trying to shoot a mother, and her child," he spat angrily. "They were not attacking anyone. They were not a threat. She was just trying to help her child. When I flew down, and tried to talk, they attacked me," he said, and snarled angrily at him.

"Duncan, I'm not sure what happened out there, but I can tell you, no one had any orders to engage you, or anyone else out there."

"Then those weren't MEGTAF guns shooting at me? MEGTAF tanks trying to blow me out of the sky? Oh, yeah, and murder a damn _baby_ ," he spat.

"Duncan, I can assure you, no one had any orders to engage anyone. I had a single platoon out on perimeter patrol near the ridge….."

"These guys were out in the desert. Still hunting dad's secret passage," he asked bitterly.

"No. Whoever was out there, they had no orders to be outside our perimeter. I promise, Duncan, I will find out what happened, and prevent it happening again."

"I know what mom's been pushing lately," Duncan told him curtly. "I'm trying to cooperate. I am. I'll play your game, so long as you leave us alone. But attacking babies, general," he grumbled. "It makes me think maybe Belloc had a point."

"Just remember, your dad is also the one trying to help forge a new truce….."

"And as his son, I'd like that. A lot. Just remember, just because I'm a stupid kid," he spat, using Barnes' favorite curse, "Doesn't make me a pushover. If I have to be prince, then I'm going to help both sides. If I can. But no one….no one attacks babies. Got it?"

"I heartily agree. And I will see it doesn't happen again."

"Just remember. Some kaiju need the sun, and you aren't making any friends if you're letting those idiots shoot at mothers and babies out there."

"I promise, Duncan. I will investigate this…."

"Sir, I need to report….. You," Blitz eyed Duncan as he reached for his pistol.

"You want to _eat_ that thing," Duncan snarled.

"Stand down, colonel."

"But, general….!"

"Stand down. What set you off now," he demanded.

"This….boy attacked a unit attempting to take down a rogue kaiju, and…."

"I believe I was just given a firsthand account, colonel. And I'll be questioning that patrol personally, since no one was supposed to be out in that part of the desert just now."

"I thought…. I mean….he attacked our men. Put every man out there in the hospital."

"Exactly," Duncan told him. "Hospital. Not the ground. This time."

"This time! General, did you hear….?"

"Barnes! Stand down. The boy was defending a mother and her child. There was no rogue. No attack. Just men exceeding orders attacking a mother and young child…."

"Mother and… They're monsters," Barnes fumed.

"You want monsters," Duncan fumed. "Go take a closer look at those butchers out there that wouldn't even listen to me. I'm done here," he spat, and stalked out.

"Hold on one second…."

"Let him go, Colonel Barnes," the grim senior officer told him.

The door didn't slam, but it was closed firmly.

"You're letting him walk out of here…."

"That wasn't Margaret's kid just now, colonel," the senior officer told him. "That was Belloc's son, and the new prince of the kaiju. If you're going to stay on point, you'd better learn the difference."

"But…."

"And he had a point. Those men you defend weren't supposed to be out there. So why were they," he demanded.

"I…..don't know. I just thought they were a regular patrol."

"One that wasn't supposed to be out there. And damn sure had no orders to attack any kaiju they found. I'd like to know who sent them there, and why they tried to attack the prince without listening to him."

"I…. I'll find out at once, sir."

"Do that," General Taylor snapped.

The colonel fumed, but left after saluting the man, heading for the medical bay to see that officer he had not questioned earlier since he had still been out cold.

 **~FB~**

Duncan stepped outside, a clean, olive tee in hand for when he returned, and loosed his wings to carry him back to the school. He was halfway there when he cringed, and realized school was likely over by now, and everyone had probably gone home. Circling town, he flew down to the edge of down, hid his wings, and pulled on the tee before walking the last few blocks home.

He walked into the house, and found his mom staring at him with wide, anxious eyes.

"Mom, I'm okay. Honestly…"

"Son, Daora is missing."

"What," he hissed. "What happened?"

"You tell me. General Taylor just called…."

"Let me guess. More rogue soldiers?"

"Rogue….? Duncan, he said none of those men even remember being in the desert. They all woke up without a clue about what happened to them."

"What," he frowned. "Never mind them. What about Daora," he demanded as Jenna came into the kitchen from the living room to stare his way with a miserable expression.

"It's my fault," she told him brokenly.

"What?"

"I let her leave alone. I thought she'd be okay. Then your mom called, asking where everyone had gone, and…. She never made it home, Duncan. It's my fault. I should have walked with her."

"What about Kenny, and Isabel?"

"They had detention. Something about a prank in gym," Jenna told him.

"Who was the last to see her," he demanded.

"I was, Duncan," Jenna told him. "I was. I left her at the sidewalk outside school, and she said she could walk home alone okay. I should have…."

Duncan scowled darkly.

"Leviathan," Duncan hissed, his fists clenching. "The freak set me up. If he so much as touches her," he snarled.

"Duncan, where are you going….?"

Duncan didn't even look back as he stepped outside, and all but ripped his shirt away to take flight.

"To get her back," he thundered, and vanished into the afternoon sky.

 _To Be Continued….._


	7. Chapter 7

_I do not own Andy Kuhn & Phil Hester's Firebreather characters, and am only using them to tell a story meant for entertainment purposes only._

 **Fire-Breather**

 **By LJ58**

 **7**

"I'm telling you, general, he's past furious now. Someone really slipped up on this one. They grabbed Daora, and I don't think Duncan is feeling too patient just now. Just make sure none of your men get in his way," Margaret told him as she balanced the phone on her shoulder while arming a laser pistol she had pulled out.

"You know him best, Margaret," the officer's worried tone filled her ear. "What do you think we should do?"

"Do? Nothing. Don't let any of those trigger happy idiots get in his way. Meanwhile, you might want to reinforce the town in case this Leviathan intends to try to attack us here to distract him again. Apparently, this guy is a master of backstabbing according to Belloc."

"Considering I have a medical bay filled with men who don't remember how they spent the day, I'm not surprised."

"Look, just make sure everyone knows not to shoot at him. Right now, he's a little more than upset about Daora, and…."

"I've faced kaiju before, Margaret. I know not all of them are mindless beasts. Just…keep your own eyes open. If they came for his bride, they might also decide his mother is fair game."

"That's why I'm keeping Jenna with me, too. Just in case. Meanwhile, like I said, we might need a little insurance out here."

"I'm sending a battle group your way now. Defensive stance only."

"Okay. Okay. Just make sure they're all aware that Duncan is the good guy here," she demanded of her former superior.

"I'll brief them myself, Margaret. Meanwhile, I'm sending Barnes to you….."

"Blitz," she groaned.

"He's still the best we have."

"God help us," the woman muttered.

"Hang tough, major," the general told her, and hung up.

She let the phone drop back into the cradle, and rechecked her pistol before she handed it to Jenna.

"Remember how to fire this?"

"I remember," the blonde choked. "You really think more of them are going to come after us?"

"I don't know. I do know something bad is going on, and it may get worse before it's over."

"I like Duncan, Mrs. Rosenblatt. I do. But this is….crazy."

"Welcome to my life," she smiled wanly, and opened a closet to pull out a familiar rifle with a very sleek configuration.

"You have your own armory?"

"After that last attack, I felt I should invest in some preventative measures," she told the blonde with a cold smile.

"Oh."

 **~FB~**

The tall, insect kaiju Duncan found not far from town was more than familiar.

He was also just standing out there alone.

Or so it seemed.

He checked the area, enhancing his vision with his magic as he had learned to do, but saw nothing else. Just the insect called Dirazzi.

He flew down, stood before the slightly taller kaiju, but only glared.

"What now, bug? Where's Daora?"

"I cannot say….."

Duncan snarled, and his fists clenched.

"Hold, Prince Duncan," the kaiju told him, holding up all four clawed hands. "I swear to you that I am here to aid you. I now realize that Lord Leviathan has lied to many of us, and now risks war with our own, as well as the humans. I do not understand his madness, but I know his path will lead to death for far too many of our own."

"Where is Daora," he asked again.

"I do not know. But one of Leviathan's agent is in the catacombs. He will know. If he can be made to talk," the insectoid told him, throwing a yellow burst of magic at the ground that opened the hard earth like a hatch. "I will lead you…."

"I know the way," he spat, and walked down into the exposed chasm. "But if this is another trap, _I'm_ not the one in trouble."

"I believe you, my prince."

"Just like that, huh?"

"You are known to have aided Sarjakka this day. Many feared you might join the humans, and strike her and her child down. Such are the lies Leviathan has been voicing."

Duncan muttered as the ground closed behind them, and he kept moving ahead of the insectoid without hesitating. He had been down this path before, and it was ironically close to where he had faced his first challenge when his own father had been testing him.

"I'd never hurt a mom, or a kid," he spat. "That's just wrong."

"Which is what finally opened my eyes," Dirazzi informed him.

"So, Leviathan? He had some way to make those MEGTAF guys attack me?"

"He has…gifted followers," the insect informed him.

"So, what is this guy's problem with me?"

"His problem? He feels that all hybrids are a blight on our race. Some of our hybrids have turned their backs on their own legacies, but ironically, humans are not that accepting of them either. Still, Leviathan feels such creatures weaken our species, and they are the reason we have been beaten by humans so often. He feels when we purify our race, and return to our roots, we will find the strength to purge our world of all humans."

"More likely, the humans nuke us all into oblivion, and we all lose," Duncan grumbled.

"This is what Belloc has said, too. He has seen the human's weapons himself. He knows what they can do. He fears our very world may die if humans and kaiju do not learn to come together."

"Well, for once dad is right," he told the giant bug. "You back humans into a corner, and they will launch everything they have, and fight to the very last. But you're overlooking something else, big guy," Duncan told him.

"What is that, son of Belloc?"

"Consider the fact that kaiju and humans can reproduce. Weird as that seems even to me," he exclaimed. "Doesn't that tell you that we aren't really that different?"

"Not….that different?"

"You ever see kaiju reproduce with anything else on the planet?"

"Well, no," Dirazzi admitted.

"Neither can humans. Yet we can with one another. I'm proof of that. So is Daora. We're not really that different at heart. The trick is to get over the hatred on both sides, and stop these stupid attacks that only stir up both sides, and keeps a needless fight going."

"Your words ring true. Leviathan claimed you favor only the humans, but you took Lady Daora as your own. You spared Sarjakka and her hatchling this day, and aided them at great risk to yourself."

"Well, those guys were more annoying than not," he grumbled.

"I know that agents of Leviathan lured them out to occupy you," he told him. "For I only just learned your lady had been taken myself. That was when I chose to come to you, and swear my own loyalty to you, my prince."

"Yeah? Well, better late than never," Duncan muttered, and heard low, growling voices not far ahead.

"The gathering is just ahead."

"Gathering," Duncan asked.

"Leviathan has agents attempting to sway those in the region to turn against you, and attack both you, and the humans."

"My mom," he gasped.

"Fear not. I have already sent those of my own hive to defend your dam, and your human consort."

Duncan stopped, and eyed the huge bug.

"Let's just hope mom realizes your guys are there to help."

"Indeed," Dirazzi murmured, and gestured as they approached a heated cavern he had visited before with his father.

He remembered that last time, and guessed this visit wasn't going to go any better either as Dirazzi led him out to stand on bank near that lava lake he had been tossed into by his own father. He eyed the bubbling magma, and then glanced around, realizing there were quite a few kaiju present, and a lot of the murmurs, and angry voices had stopped as he and Dirazzi had entered.

Dirazzi approached a small group of insects like himself, chattered briefly, and then gestured to Duncan.

"I have brought the prince so we may hear his own words. Let him tell us himself how he will proceed from this day," the big insect kaiju's voice carried like thunder in the huge chamber.

Duncan glanced around, and noted that high cliff Belloc had stood upon was empty. Apparently, no one was feeling up to taking his father's place even if he wasn't around.

Yet.

He glanced back to Dirazzi, who nodded as if reading his mind, and Duncan flew up to the high cliff that overlooked everyone below and around him, and more than a few began to murmur again. He ignored the muttering, some astonished, some angry, and tracked familiar kaiju he had seen before. Then he spotted a few ichthyoids, and considering Leviathan and Zhaitan, had a good idea who the agents were since they were in the middle of a desert.

Taking a clue from his dad, he straightened, stepped forward, and all but shouted.

"I am Duncan, the new prince of the Kaiju, and son of Belloc."

"Why should we listen to you, human," someone sneered.

"Why? Maybe you shouldn't," he declared curtly. "Maybe I don't really care. Still, should you listen to Leviathan," he demanded. "Someone who attacks young mothers? Who attacks any he names enemy from behind, and is trying to start a war with not only humans, but turn us against one another?"

"Not each other," another fishlike kaiju spat. "Just you weak, useless hybrids! Humans!"

"Weak? Useless? Ask Zhaitan how weak I am," he demanded. "Ask the mother Sarjakka how weak I am. And tell me, fish-face, if I'm so weak, why does Leviathan not face me? No, he just kidnaps my betrothed, and yet again throws lackeys in my way while he hides like a coward in the shadows," he bellowed, his eyes glowing almost as bright as his jeweled heart.

For a moment, his words hung like a booming echo in the air, and then all was silent.

"Who took Lady Daora," a small, bee-like kaiju demanded as he flitted down from another cliff to hover before him. Duncan knew it was one of those that had brought her to him.

"While I spared the mother and her child, the coward sent someone to steal her. Is that your great leader," he demanded of the gathered kaiju.

"Not our leader. We follow great Mephistoles, lord of the Eastern Lands," the bee told him. "This affront will be addressed," he assured Duncan.

"Fine. Fine. Someone just tell me who knows where she is, so I can go get her back. While you're at it, tell _Levi_ he's getting on my nerves. He wants a challenge? He's got it. He just has to face me, instead of hiding and throwing flunkies at me."

"You dare," the same fishy kaiju hissed.

"I dare a lot, as anyone can tell you," Duncan shot back as the bee merely eyed him, and then flitted back to his lower perch, and approached someone else nearby.

"No half-human vermin can tell us…."

"Enough," Duncan thundered, and gouts of flame spat from his lips as the ichthians pointedly cringed. "All I know is someone took my betrothed, and attacked me like a craven. All I know is Leviathan is behind all of this insanity. He either steps up, and returns my betrothed, or I start hunting him. No matter who I have to hurt to find him," he snarled at that particular group of kaiju.

For a long, tense moment, none of the kaiju spoke.

Then Dirazzi spoke, and declared, "All the hive knows that Leviathan has mislead us. He sent his own son to challenge the prince, and the prince almost died thinking him but a weak human-hybrid. Dirazzi himself has seen our prince stand for our own, and face his challengers, human and kaiju, in honorable combat. We have not seen it so with Leviathan. We repudiate the false lord of the seas, and stand with the prince. Now, who defies the son of Belloc," he demanded.

All eyes went to the icthians, and the small group began to back away, obviously hunting shadows, and equally obviously shunning the heat and nearness of that magma pool.

"No more talk," Duncan spat, and flew down to backhand one of the larger, near twenty foot icthians, and grabbed a fourteen foot turtle-fishy thing by its long whiskery tendrils. "You. Talk, or you see if you survive the same bath I did," the hovering Duncan spat, dragging the kaiju toward the magma.

"Mercy! I know not! I know not! I swear," the creature shrieked, eyes round with terror.

"Then who does," Duncan snarled, and low as his voice had dropped, not one of the kaiju didn't hear him.

The left limb of the terrified kaiju pointed instantly, and the slightly armored, turtle-faced icthyian stared comically as it tried to lumber backwards, seeking shadows, or escape.

"Where," Duncan shouted, slamming into the things midsection, and sending him flying back to land sprawling on its back. "Is she," he demanded, and lifted a knotted fist, his body all but glowing as his fists took on a bluish hue.

"Mercy," the creature screamed, and one stubby forepaw retracted, and slowly pulled out a captive inside its own shell.

Daora, in kaiju form, landed limp, and unmoving beside the turtle kaiju, and Duncan jumped down atop from its shell, going to her at once as he carefully cradled her in his arms.

"Daora," he murmured, carefully lifting her head as he assessed her. "Are you all right?"

Her eyes opened slowly, fluttering at first, and then gave a faint smile.

"My beloved," she rasped, her breath a weak hiss. "I knew….you would….come….."

"Daora," he frowned, and saw her eyes flutter again, and begin to close.

"Allow me, my prince," Dirazzi said as he came over, and pressed a small ball of glowing energy he summoned into the bipedal reptilian girl's chest.

Daora rasped, tensing and writhing a moment, and then leapt to her feet, and glared around her.

"Vile creatures," she screeched, and then looked around to realize she was standing in the catcombs with Duncan. "My prince," she frowned. "What happened? I was…. Something….happened," she frowned.

"The keraak drained you of most of your energies, lady," Dirazzi nodded to her as Duncan rose to his feet, and glared down at the turtle kaiju. "You were dangerously close to fading away."

Duncan turned to eye the still downed creature, and glared potently.

He eyed the other icthians, and then glanced to Daora who still looked confused for all she was back on her feet.

Duncan eyed Dirazzi, and then quietly remarked, "I think it's time I sent a message of my own."

"What message," the insectoid asked him.

Duncan turned around, and grabbed the turtle creature by his dangling tendrils again, and snarled, _"None_ touch what is mine," he shouted, and lifted and flung the kaiju by his grip on his tendrils, smashing him into the far wall before he slid down and into the magma. The amphibious creature had time for a single, aborted scream, and then he was gone.

"None," Duncan spat at the gathering. Then scooped up Daora, and flew back up to Belloc's place.

"Beloved," she asked him quietly as he stood there staring, and for a moment it seemed that he was about to turn away.

"He'll never stop coming, will he," he asked her quietly.

"Never," she told him. "He is a true monster. And, I begin to fear he might well be mad."

Duncan nodded, and stepped forward again, staring down at the others once more before speaking.

"I have said I am Belloc's heir. This is my betrothed. None touch her. None. Any that do. Any that dare try, answer to me. Now, before any of you leave, declare yourself," he all but commanded. "Understanding, of course, that a very hot bath awaits any of the treacherous vermin that dare follow that craven beast."

"We of the Hive stand with our prince," Dirazzi shouted at once.

More than half of those present quickly added their own voices.

Another icthian tried to back away, to reach the shelter of shadows, but Duncan spat a blast of flame toward him, and cut off his departure.

"C'mon, fish-face," he spat. "You're not afraid of a weak, human hybrid, are you," he demanded. "I entered the pool, and I came out. Surely you can manage that if you're so much better than we weak hybrids. So much stronger. Show us. Or confess your crimes before your brothers, and accept my judgement," he spat.

"Wh-What….judgement," the icthian asked.

"Just like I said. A very hot bath," Duncan growled, not feeling all that merciful just now, and hating, truly hating that Daora had almost died before he had let that creep in the shadows distract him.

The icthian whimpered, and dropped to his knees.

"Forgive me, prince! Mercy! Mercy! Leviathan is the ruler of the seas. We of the depths have no choice but to follow! Our very kindred are his hostages, and our lives are his pawns!"

"I said declare yourself," Duncan spat. "Not offer excuses. Are you kaiju, or worms," he spat.

Some of those yet to speak surged forward, and shouted, "Duncan! Hail the prince! Hail Duncan!"

Duncan smiled.

"Tell you what, fishy. You go back, and you tell Leviathan I challenge him. Tell him I'm waiting. Tell him if he won't face me, then everyone knows he is a coward, and a fool, and he is the lord of nothing. Go tell him that, and you get to live."

"He will kill me for such a message," the kaiju wailed.

"You helped take my bride. Did you really think I would forgive that," he demanded.

The icthians left shared a grim look, and turned to go.

"We will deliver your message," one of them murmured.

"Tell him soon. He faces me, or he bows to me, but I will not allow him to touch my own again. I am watching now. He has three days. Then I name him a coward, and replace him as lord of the seas."

Daora smiled at him, and daringly put a hand on his shoulder.

He smiled back, and put a hand over her own clawed hand.

"Now, go. Before I reconsider my mercy," he spat.

The icthians all but fled as those that remained shouted accolades, and Duncan sighed, and looked back at Daora.

"Well, I guess that was the easy part. Now I just have to figure out what to do next," he complained, making her smile all the more.

 _To Be Continued….._


	8. Chapter 8

_I do not own Andy Kuhn & Phil Hester's Firebreather characters, and am only using them to tell a story meant for entertainment purposes only._

 **Fire-Breather**

 **By LJ58**

 **8**

"Holy crap, what are those," one of the MEGTAF soldiers rasped as they all heard the thudding steps, and nine huge bug-like kaiju moved out of the desert, came up the street, and began to surround the Rosenblatt house.

"Let's not shoot," another man suggested. "I've heard some of these guys are friendlies now. Maybe….they are on our side?"

"How do we find out?"

"Uh…."

"Hey! Hey, what are you guys doing here," Margaret came out to shout up at one of the nearest insectoids that looked back and down at her considering he was nearly fourteen feet tall.

Every soldier there grimaced as the bug turned to face her, then went it one knee before her, and drawled, "Hail, mother of Prince Duncan, Belloc's heir. We are here to guard his mother and consort until he returns. Know your son, our prince, even now faces his enemies, and is tending to them in his own way."

Margaret looked over at one of the men, and grimaced.

"Oh, boy," she said. "So, you're here to help?"

"So we have said," the bug nodded. "Fear not, mother of our prince. None shall harm you."

"Great. That's great. What about them," she pointed.

The bug turned, his eight companions already tensing as they spotted three, monstrous shapes even larger than they.

"They are treacherous vermin that shall be dealt with," he said, and rose to his feet to lift four hands in complex gestures.

"What the hell are they doing," the lieutenant was asked by one of his men as all nine bugs began mirroring the same movements.

"Do I look like I know about these things," the officer huffed as a glowing, yellow energy began to flutter, and rise all around the block.

Even as the first massive, shark-like kaiju lunged forward, he was knocked back by an unseen hand and fell screeching in fury before rolling back to his feet.

By then, the other two had joined him, and all three slammed into a growing, yellow dome of energy that now covered the entire block.

Margaret rushed forward, grabbed the lieutenant's radio, and shouted, "Hot zone! Hot zone! We have three unfriendlies on site. Get back-up here before they trash the whole neighborhood," she ordered.

"That's for official use only," the officer complained, jerking the radio back. Then saw the three enemy kaiju hammering on the fluttering barrier, and grimaced as he realized they had nothing but those weird bugs between them and a trio of very angry monsters. "Never mind," he spat, shouting, "Send back-up now!" into the radio.

Which was when the very ground shook as if a quake had hit them.

"Oh, man," Jenna gasped, standing in the doorway, and looking out with hugely rounded eyes. "I'd rather be watching this on TV, not living it!"

"Get inside, and take cover," the lieutenant shouted even as a huge shadow rose out of the sands, and dwarfed the trio just before unyielding gouts of flames surged out, and all but vaporized one of the kaiju.

The mostly charred creature fell back, wailing weakly as it was obviously badly wounded even as the to her two turned to face the newcomer even as a thunderous roar filled the air as the bipedal beast rose to its full height, and towered over all of them.

"Belloc," the lieutenant screamed. "Belloc is loose!"

"It's about time," Margaret shouted. "Don't worry, he's on our side."

"Say what," one of the soldiers exclaimed. "Lady, are you nuts? How can you be so sure?"

"Because, corporal, in case you haven't heard, that's my son's daddy," she smiled knowingly at the king of the kaiju tearing apart the other kaiju with a rage she knew all too well.

"But wasn't he….locked up," another demanded.

Margaret only looked up at the huge kaiju now standing over the last enemy that faltered, turned, and tried to run.

A gout of blistering flame caught the creature in the back, all but vaporizing its head, and it fell to the ground with a heavy thud that shook the entire area again before Belloc turned, and dropped to all fours to look down at Margaret.

"Still daring to the end, Margaret," he said with a smirking grin as he eyed her standing behind the barrier.

"What can I say? I have faith in my friends. All of them," she told him, standing as close as she dared to stand close to that barrier that crackled and pulsed as if alive.

"That is good to hear. The Hive will keep you safe this night. I am going to Duncan. He may yet need my help, because I doubt even he understands how duplicitous and treacherous Leviathan can be."

"So, you two have met."

"To my regret, I once had him in my jaws," the king of the kaiju admitted, "And let him slip away. I will not make that mistake again," he growled.

"Just keep Duncan and Daora safe," she told him.

"Of that, Margaret, you may be sure," he said, and turned, and raced into the night beyond the edge of town so fast he seemed to vanish.

"B-But….how did he get out," another soldier was asking as he had watched the kaiju race away.

"You guys don't really believe you were holding him again, do you," Margaret chortled as the lieutenant just gaped, and then looked back at her asking, "Do you think that's it?"

"Far from it," Margaret told him. "So stay on point, man. This isn't over yet."

"That's what I was afraid of," the officer grimaced even as MEGTAF forces only then began to appear.

"Better late than never," Margaret sighed as the reinforcements led by a familiar silver-haired officer only then began to spread out, and check the parts of the neighborhood hit by the three kaijus trying to reach them.

 **~FB~**

Duncan turned from the shouting kaiju that now acknowledged him, and smiled at Daora.

"I'd still rather be at home, watching bad TV," he told her.

"So would I. You, Jenna, and I could laugh at the silliness, and eat the popping corn, and drink fizzy drinks that tickle your nose. I would much rather do that," she told him with a wan smile.

He smiled, and was about to speak again when something nearby rumbled, sending tremors through the entire underground cavern.

Just before Duncan saw the ceiling cracking, and he grabbed, and flung Daora aside even as most of the rock overhead came down atop him.

The grating laughter filled the chamber in the wake of the crumbling rock, and a massive, sinewy kaiju came down out of the fissure behind that fallen rock. A long, sinewy neck supported a huge, toothy maw, and a massive, elongated tail slammed down on the rock that had buried Duncan. The massive serpentine creature laughed again as its gaze swept the chamber, and fixed on Daora who was only then recovering as she stared in horror where Duncan had been.

"Who mocks me now," the beast demanded. "Who dares face me when even Belloc is cowed by humans, and kept like a pet? Who dares deny I am right when that pathetic half-blood lies buried beneath my… Eh?"

Leviathan's natural flexibility saved his life just then as a blast of raw, intense flame exploded virtually beneath his feet. Even as the ceiling rumbled all the more, and a larger, snarling newcomer slammed down atop the surprisingly nimble sea beast.

"Leviathan," Belloc roared. "This ends now," the king of the kaiju shocked everyone with his appearing as he pressed the lord of the seas down beneath his claws.

Even as Duncan burst free, his eyes glittering with fury as he seemed to have swelled at least half again his transformed size.

"In that," the winged hybrid snarled, "We are agreed."

Belloc stared down at his son who burst through the rock that had almost buried him, and saw his gaze was locked on Leviathan.

Then Duncan glanced around, saw Daora shrinking back where she had landed, and saw the gash on one arm she was favoring.

The sight of her injury was enough to add to his fury.

Turning, he slammed a hard fist into the amphibian's jaw, bone cracking audibly as the kaiju howled even as Belloc clamped strong jaws down atop the writhing, serpentine neck to keep their enemy from escaping. The screams now were for mercy even as Duncan hammered the pinned Leviathan, venting both rage and frustration as one until he stepped back, and glared at the bloodied creature.

"Still think hybrids are weak, coward," he spat.

Leviathan's dark eyes fluttered, and Duncan only then seemed to notice Belloc pinning down the large kaiju beneath him as he smirked.

"Hey, almost didn't see you there," he grinned at his father, and turned toward Daora. "I'll just leave this creep to you," he added as he walked toward his cringing betrothed.

He was expecting something, and when Daora's eyes started to round, her lips parting to cry a protest, Duncan was already spinning even as his father's jaws bit deeper, and Duncan unleashed his flames even as the rising claw aimed at his back vaporized under his fiery assault.

In the same instant, Belloc savaged and bit ever deeper, all but severing the big kaiju's head from his neck, sending it flying to land near the edge of the magma pit below. A massive, winged kaiju that had only just arrived looked down at the bloodied head at his feet, sneered, and kicked it into the molten pool.

"You should have done that decades ago, you old fossil," Mephisto, lord of the Eastern kaiju spat as he looked up at father and son standing over the others still watching at the stunningly vicious, and brutal showdown.

"If I followed every instinct, Mephisto," Belloc growled as he rose to tower over the fallen serpent, "You wouldn't be here today."

The winged kaiju just chortled.

"Duncan," Daora rasped as she approached him, still favoring one arm. "Is it…over?"

"Let's find out," he said. He nodded up at his father, not too surprised to find him out of his cage again when he already knew the humans couldn't really hold him, and turned to the gaping assembly below them. "Well? Anyone else want to challenge the new prince? Anyone else want a piece of me," he demanded. "Anyone," he shouted.

Belloc chortled.

"I find you have grown well, my son. In time, you will be ready to lead our people. Perhaps you can even manage the peace I envision. But you are not ready to lead. For now, I shall stay, and calm the fears of our own while you tend to the humans."

"Yeah, I can see someone is going to be upset you broke out of another unbreakable cage."

Belloc snorted.

"A cage with a rock floor," he growled in disdain.

"Right. Real stupid of them, wasn't it."

"Indeed. Take your betrothed home, Duncan. Let your mother know all is well now. Without Leviathan, I doubt there are many of the rebels out there that would dare face either of us."

"Especially if they try to touch my daughter. I am now well pleased you suggested the match, my king," Mephisto declared as he only then approached. "And before you go, daughter," he said, and put a huge hand over her arm.

The faint blue glow fluttered only briefly, but when Mephisto pulled back his scaly hand, there wasn't a mark on Daora's arm.

"Thank you, father."

"Of course, daughter. Now, I will let you go. I am certain you are likely weary, and would like to rest after this madness."

Duncan said nothing as he eyed the big kaiju, and then scooped her up to walk toward the exit beyond the cliff.

"Duncan," Mephisto called out. "Take care of my daughter. I entrust her to your care."

"I'll keep her safe, Wings," he grumbled. "Just don't bother to visit too often. The neighbors would freak."

Mephisto burst into laughter as the two young hybrids disappeared into the darkness down the tunnel. Then he turned to Belloc, and smiled slyly.

"Now that you are back on the throne, old fossil. When will they wed?"  
"I noted you waited till my son left to ask."

"Well, these things are too important to take risks with involving them," Mephisto grinned.

Belloc only chortled, and told him, "Best you learn to be more open with Prince Duncan. Even I have trouble with him at times when I simply tried to guide him. He is a stubborn youngling."

"As stubborn as you, I wager. I recall a few of your early misadventures."

Belloc glowered now, and just kicked the limp of Leviathan off the cliff now to join its already severed head in the molten pool below. The dark, rubbery flesh did not last long.

"Let us forget the past," Belloc declared. "And focus on the future. Starting with the understanding that I remain king, and Duncan is my sole, true heir," he thundered for all those gathered to hear.

Mephisto looked around himself, shadowed by the larger kaiju, and still smirked.

"I believe, my king that the point has been well made this day. Well made."

Belloc looked around, and eyed those below.

"Then ensure you spread the word. Belloc still rules," he snarled. "And Duncan rises. Go. And take note of any that still follow the liar," he added.

No one misunderstood him.

No one decried him.

The gathered kaiju just turned, and went back into the deeper shadows of their own tunnels, seeking their own lairs.

All with a fantastic tale to share of the prince standing against Leviathan himself.

 **~FB~**

"We may have incoming," Barnes shouted as more of the neighbors, especially those whose homes had been damaged, and been taken to Margaret's house.

They might not have cared for her son, or the infamy they had brought their town, but even they realized her home was well guarded by both sides, and nothing seemed to be getting near it. Even when MEGTAF and the strange kaiju had fought off two more assaults by smaller kaiju that had come out of nowhere.

Even Jenna's mother was inside now, huddling with her daughter as she tried to stay calm while Margaret was outside, helping to guide the others, or even barking orders at the men as if she were their superior.

Something that few of the neighbors watching fearfully from the doors or windows understood.

"Hold it," she shouted at the man who tended to be trigger-happy at his best. "Look again, colonel," she told him. "That's Duncan."

"The hell it is….!"

The nearly nine foot Duncan landed just beside one of the insects now, and shrank back down even as he let Daora recover, too before he looked up at the nearest bug.

"You have found Lady Daora," one of them noted with satisfaction. "She was not harmed?"

"It's okay. Leviathan is gone, and the danger is over. It's done."

"Leviathan," Colonel Barnes echoed as he stormed over to glare suspiciously at him. "Who is that?"

"The real troublemaker stirring things up of late. Trust me, he's toast. Literally," Duncan smirked as the insects now nodded, and their energy shield seemed to just fade as they made a simple, curt gesture.

"Thank you for protecting my home, and my mother," he told one of the big bugs. "I won't forget the Hive, or your courage."

"We follow the Hive, who follows the true king," one of them told him. "Simply call if you need us, my prince. We of the Hive are ever loyal."

"We appreciate that," he said, and smiled at Daora. "And you missed your chance to know Levi, Barnes. Like I said, he's already toast."

"Did you know your father broke out, too," he demanded now. "Or did you help him….?"

Duncan laughed.

"You don't honestly think dad needed my help if he wanted to leave? He was just waiting for the bad guy to show his hand, so he could crush him. He's crushed, and now maybe things can calm down again. Trust me, dad isn't looking to start another war. He just wants to quiet down what Leviathan tried to start."

"So you say….."

"So I say. Good night, Barnes. Now, be a good boy, and go home."

"Good….boy," the man sputtered. "Listen here, kid….!"

"Duncan, is it really over," his mother asked as they approached the door, all three of them ignoring the fuming soldier behind them.

"You tell me," he grimaced, the first face he spotted on opening the door being Jenna's mother. Who was huddled next to Jenna on a very crowded couch, in a very crowded living room.

"Everyone," Margaret raised her voice as she put her weapon aside. "It's over. Duncan has ended the threat, and the danger is over. You can all go home now."

"Daora," Jenna cried, and leapt to her feet, rushing forward to hug the still reptilian girl. "You're okay."

"I am now. Duncan saved my life, and well avenged me on the creature that dared strike at us."

"J-J-Jenna," her mother whimpered, staring at Daora and Duncan in the door now.

"Perhaps I should change," Daora smiled knowingly, and shrank down to appear as an ordinary blonde girl as everyone in the room just gaped.

"Only if you had done that before you came in," Jenna sighed, hearing the gasps and murmurs around them.

"Actually, I think she had the timing right," Duncan drawled. "Daora is part of my life now, and as long as I'm here, they should be getting used to her, too."

"Uh, Duncan," an elderly, balding man approached him. "Mr. Sulan. Three doors down."

"Yeah, I know," he nodded.

"Well, I just want you to know, I appreciate you pitching in, and helping us out, boy. You, and your….friends out there. They really saved our hides tonight, and I don't mind admitting we owe you."

A few others echoed his words, but mostly the others just stared, and quickly made their way from the house.

"You can't change everyone overnight," Margaret told him when he just grumbled, and walked over to sit on the far end of the couch from Jenna's mom.

Who jumped up as if launched from her seat to head toward her daughter.

"Come on, Jenna," she told her. "We should be going, too. It's late, and…..and….."

"Our lord's consort should stay so she hears the truth of what happened this night," Daora told her as Jenna blushed.

"Your lord's what? You _mean…him?_ She's his….? What," the woman sputtered.

"Uh, actually, a lot of the kaiju do already think we're…..ah, connected," Jenna admitted. "It's why they came after us. Duncan kept us safe, though. He, and his….friends."

"And I'll always keep you safe," he smiled, and nodded her way.

Jenna daringly walked over, and dropped down to sit beside him.

"So, what adventures did you have without me this time?"

"Well, first I made turtle soup," he grinned, and Daora burst into laughter as Jenna's mother only gaped.

Margaret only sighed, and asked the woman, "Coffee? I get the feeling we'll all be up a while longer."

The woman nodded mechanically, watching Daora walk over to push Duncan brazenly aside so she could sit beside him on his free side.

"Explain that one, jerk," Jenna was saying.

"It's Lord Jerk," Duncan grinned, and both girls burst into laughter as Margaret only rolled her eyes, and let Mrs. Shwartzendruber into the kitchen.

"It's best to just ignore him when he gets like that," Margaret told her. "At his heart, he's still just a normal teenage boy."

"That doesn't really help," the woman told her uneasily.

 **~FB~**

"After all that happened, you're just letting him stay?"

"I don't see why not. The reports I have received suggest that this Leviathan was behind all the madness, and now he's gone. End of problem."

"End of problem? End of problem? You didn't see him, sir," Colonel Barnes sputtered as General Taylor only shook his head. "That kid is still changing. Growing! He was all of nine feet now when he changes! Nine! Who knows how big he may yet get! Or how it will affect him!"

"You're overreacting, colonel. Again. Just continue with your current assignment, and maintain your role as liaison for the new prince of the kaiju. After all, we have an unprecedented opportunity to ensure the next king thinks more kindly of us, don't we? We shouldn't squander that kind of a chance."

"But…."

"Go."

"Sir…."

"Or are you offering to resign."

Blitz groaned, and shook his head.

"No, sir. But that boy is dangerous! He's becoming more of a threat every day. Even I can see…."

"I have his own report, in his own words, Barnes. I don't see a threat. I see a potential ally. Try not to turn him against us, will you?"

"And what about Belloc?"

"Apparently, he's gone back to his own. Out of sight, out of mind. And a lot of the usual kaiju activity has been quiet again. Don't borrow trouble, colonel. Just keep your eyes on the boy, and make sure he's happy."

" _He's_ happy," Barnes sputtered as he walked out of the office.

"Have a good day, colonel. Or should I say, coach," the general said as the door closed behind him.

Barnes groaned, and dropped his head.

The secretary carefully hid her own smirk as he stalked out of the office.

 **~FB~**

"I cannot believe you guys were out having fun again without us," Isabel exclaimed as she caught up with Duncan earlier that day, and now knew everything by the time they met at lunch.

"Fun," Jenna exclaimed.

"Fun," Kenny shuddered. "If I never see another kaiju….. Uh, except you guys," he told Duncan and Daora. You guys are cool."

"We understand, buddy," Duncan grinned. "Don't worry. With dad back out, and running things, hopefully no one else is going to think they can stomp all over anyone else."

"Like you?"

"No one stomps over Prince Duncan," Daora smiled. "I have never been as proud as when I saw him attack the gimanju to save me. And the way he ravaged Leviathan!"

"I miss everything," Isabel sighed.

"You, girl, are strange," Jenna told her.

"Freaks," Troy Adams sneered at them as he and his friends walked past just then, glaring at Duncan in particular.

"Well, at least some things don't change," Jenna sighed.

Duncan only grinned as Troy suddenly tripped, and fell face down in his own tray, creating a domino effect with the four boys following him. Their howls of outrage, and shame echoed loudly, and Troy turned to glare back his way as he barked, "You did this," he accused.

"Me? Dude, you're like fifteen feet away from me. How could I trip you," he asked less than innocently.

"Troy," Principal Dave seemed to appear just then. "I saw you trip myself, young man, and Duncan was nowhere near you. Now clean up that mess, unless you would like to stay after to help the janitor."

The boys groaned as Duncan sniggered.

"You _did_ do it," Jenna realized, because she did know him.

"I was just practicing some of that magic Daora was teaching me," he grinned. "Can I help it if some of it….ah, somehow….untied Troy's shoestrings?"

They burst into laughter as Duncan just smirked at a fuming Troy still scraping food off his own face as he glared Duncan's way.

"We might want to make sure we leave early today," Isabel murmured to Kenny.

"I thought you wanted to have fun," Kenny drawled. "Pretty sure if Troy comes after Duncan now, it's going to be fun."

"Not for Troy," Jenna grinned.

"Definitely not," Duncan agreed. "Now, who's up for a movie tonight?"

"I thought you were still banned from the mall?"

"I got a new reprieve. Guess saving the neighbors, even indirectly, helped with my PR."

"That's not all that helped," Jenna grinned. "Even mom may be loosening up now she's gotten to actually know you."

"You're kidding," Isabel exclaimed.

"I say _may_ ," Jenna stressed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Which made them all laugh again.

"So, who's in?"

Everyone joined in at Duncan's query.

 _End….?_


End file.
